


A Devil's Orchid

by GlassNoRouyaDeUnazuku



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Kidnapping, M/M, Mild Gore, Not Canon Compliant, Schoolboys, Suicide Attempt, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-08-13 14:18:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 17
Words: 83,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7979767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassNoRouyaDeUnazuku/pseuds/GlassNoRouyaDeUnazuku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the game against Hyotei on the Kanto tournament, Tezuka asks an old friend to return to Japan to train two of his friends while he heals his arm. How will everyone react with someone tightly tied up with Seigaku's past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: A Return to life. (part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> This story passes just after the Seigaku vs Hyotei match on the Kanto tournament, anything that happened after it won't be considered.

Chapter One: **A Return to life. (part 1).**

 

It was 7 a.m., probably earlier than any time she had woken up on the entire last year, not that she had slept much on the past year, or on the past years. When Tezuka called her exactly 3 days ago saying he was wanting her to “pay back the favor she owed him”, she thought she would never hear his voice again. She thought he was still hating her after everything she had done. But Tezuka called, and then Syusuke called, to guarantee that she was actually coming back to Japan.

The premise was pretty simple, she thought to herself, he needs me to train two of his teammates for the final of the Kanto tournament, because she is a persona non grata on Seigaku’s court and she doubted she and Sumire could ever talk like normal to each other again. Even after 5 years.

But in the end she accepted his request, even both of them knowing that it was not a request, it was just she repaying for all the hurt she had put him through. But right now she is back to Japan, looking for the place she used to string her rackets at, since the airplane flight had messed up with everything. One of the problems of not being rich anymore and not flying in first class.

Her phone kept vibrating on the back pocket of her jeans, probably Tarou confirming whatever he wanted her to do on Saturday, another favor owed, she did not bother to check the phone since she had arrived at the place she was looking for. But now instead of having a small tennis shop in front of her, she could see only a huge department store.

“Yep, this place really changed with the years” She murmured to herself while she entered the shop and took off her sunglasses. The shop was pretty empty, there were some girls on the sports clothes sections making a fuss about something on the cashier that she could not see from where she was standing. She went directly to the sports shoes area trying to find an employee to ask where she could find Seihachi-san to talk with him about the stringing. She had already confirmed on phone that he was still the boss in this place.

The girl’s shouts were getting louder so she could not stop herself from getting slightly annoyed already. One of the employees approached so she went to talk with him. “Hello, I am here looking for the Seihachi-san , I have business to conduct with him.” The employee didn’t even look at her before stating. “And which business do you have with Seihachi-san?”

She stepped forward and actually stared at the employee. “It is about stringing of some tennis rackets, I already discussed with him on the phone about it.” She tried her best to not let her annoyance show in the monotone she talked but the employee changed completely his attitude as soon as he stared at her.

“Sorry, Ojou-san, but he went out some time ago but he should be back soon, would you like my help with anything, while you wait for him to return?” The employee was clearly trying to flirt with her now. Everything she needed to make her day a bit worst. She thought twice about waiting or not, but in the end she needed her rackets done so she could actually train so she decided to just use the time of the, now very eager to help, employee.

“While I wait, could you show me the professional tennis shoes for practice? The employee made a small nod and showed her to the professional section, to that point on she stopped paying attention on anything he was saying and just tried to focus on a tennis that could attend her needs in the matches.

Soon the squealing girls turned their attention on a direction close to them. She did not bother to look, she finally found a model she enjoyed, a white shoe with silver and gold stripes, that seemed to have a really good damping. She felt close to pick it from the shelve but someone else had just taken it before she could.

She turned to the person, it was a guy with light brown hair and deep blue eyes, he had a mole under his right eye and was wearing a school uniform that she thought she had seen before. Now she understood what the girls from before were fussing over. But being handsome did not allow him to pick up the shoes she wanted to buy. “Attendee, do you have those on size 6?” She said it loud enough so the intruder and the employee could hear it”  


Atobe had started his holiday on the most normal way, passing on school to check his president duties and now he was checking the establishments owned by his family to see if everything was going fine. When staring at the new released models he felt interested in one of the new ones in the wall and moved to get it. He did not see the girl and the employee standing near it when he picked the shoe up. He just heard a voice from his left “Attendee, do you have those on size 6?”

It was a girl, no, a woman with long black hair and dark brown eyes, even with those two features she did not look Japanese. Maybe it was her low cut jeans, the her red top that was a bit too short for Japanese standards, or the black lace gloves she uses that went past her elbows. Or, is that a tattoo? Atobe saw she was holding a black Tennis bag but he could not read from there what was written on it.

The attendee fleeted from both of them, probably to get her order. And left them staring at each other. Atobe was the first one to speak. “Hn, what’s the problem?” “None, we just decided to examine the same model, could you borrow it to me?”

Atobe was interested that this unknown woman just talked like that with him. No stuttering, no staring, just talking, normally. He passed the tennis to her and saw she testing the damping on her hand and checking if the shoelace were holding firmly. She knew what she was doing. He ended up just asking the obvious question.

“You are also a Tennis player. Why Ore-sama have not seen you around?” Ore-sama? Who speaks like that, she thought. But answered him anyway, it was new someone speaking that directly to her, also. “Because I have just returned to Japan..”

Before she could finish her sentence an old man came from the front of the store talking to the her. “To think the Devil herself would come to ask me about some racket stringing. It has been years no one comes here only for that. Hello, Tatsu-san, nice to have you back on Japan. Will you bring us some trophies this year?”

Tatsu, it did not sound like a family name, but it would be weird for a shop owner to call a client by her first name, Atobe thought to himself. Seihachi-san continued before she could speak. “ Oh, it is also Atobe-sama, hope you enjoy the way the store is going” He bows slightly to Atobe.

Atobe, that name, I remember that name, she thought, could he be is related to the Atobe executive and his wife? More people that I owe favors to. The day just keeps getting worst. I should just do the stringing and leave before another memory from the past decides to appear. “Yes, it is me, anyway, I need stringing on my 3 main rackets. How long will you take and how much will it be?”

When she finished the employee returned with 2 boxes of tennis and delivered one to Tatsu and one to Atobe. “These are on your respective sizes, sirs” He said. While Seihachi took Tatsu’s rackets to examine both of them seated down and when to try out the tennis. It felt nice for both of them, perfect for Tennis, and the fitting was perfect also.

Soon the owner was back with a young girl by his side. As soon as she saw Tatsu she started to talk. “Oh my god! You are really back! You were the best Tennis player I have ever watched. Why did you decide to return? The Tennis here was so bad. Seigaku is awful as always. But Rikkai managed to win two nationals while you were gone...” The girl kept talking but Tatsu had stopped listening on the first sentence and did not give her any attention.

“So how much will it be the 3 rackets plus this tennis? And when will they be ready?” “The thing is Tatsu-san, I won't be able to re-string these until tomorrow, because the stringing that you use is a heavier one and I do not have the equipment to do it here.” I won’t be able to do actual training today. Tatsu thought. “It is fine, can I pick them up tomorrow morning?”

The little girl felt herself getting ignored and spoke directly to Tatsu again. “I don’t believe you are Tatsu-san. She was one amazing Tennis player that always had a smirk on her face! You are just a dead face person!” She shouted and went to the back of the store.

“I have to apologize for my granddaughter behavior, she is just a big fan of you, Tatsu-san, she decided to play Tennis after she saw you beating everyone on the Kanto tournament all those years ago.” Hearing everything that had passed, Atobe decided to intrude on the conversation. “Oya, you need those rackets for today, don’t you, girl?”

“I forgot to introduce myself, I am Tatsu. And yes, I would like to be able to practice with my racket today, but it seems that will not be possible.” She tried to be as polite as she could but the irritation on her voice was evident. “Ore-sama name is Atobe Keigo, as you know, I am the owner of this place, get any racket from here and practice until tomorrow.” Atobe was interested in that woman now, he wanted to know who she was and how good she was on Tennis.

“No, thanks, but I don’t need your help, Atobe” She said while she was paying for the shoe and the stringing. “Ore-sama is not offering you help, I am challenging you. I will borrow you one of my rackets and you will play a 1 set match against me.” She turned around to face him.

“Why do you want to play a match against me?” She asked. “Because the little girl that was here said you were the best and I cannot admit anyone is better than Ore-sama.” What was the problem of this boy, why she felt so compelled to win against him she did not know. But even after everything, she still was not the one to back from a challenge.

“Is there still a Tennis court close to here?” Tatsu asked. “Yes, Tatsu-san that court on this neighborhood is still up” Seihachi answered. “So, let’s go, Atobe .” She said while picking up her Tennis bag and heading toward the door. Atobe could see there was THE DEVIL written in capital letters in one of the sides of her backpack.

“I hope you are ready to lose to Ore-sama” He said. She turned around on the door of the store and, for the first time today, did not have a blank expression on her face but her smirk, her characteristic smirk that made the opponents call her a Devil, long ago. She was beautiful, Atobe thought, with an actual expression she was beautiful.

 

Arriving to the court she went straight to the bathrooms not bothering to look back on him, so Atobe did the same and went to put his Tennis uniform. In less than 10 minutes both were outside. Atobe was with his Hyotei’s practice uniform. But what Tatsu was wearing was pretty different from the normal female uniforms.

She was wearing simple black shorts and a white shirt, but what catches the eye was the bandages that went from her hands to her elbows and from her socks to the middle of her tights. She notices his looks and turned around to go find a free court they could use.

They were getting a lot of looks from the other players when they were passing some were whispering, most were just getting out of their way. She thought about commenting something with Atobe but she saw an empty court on sight so Tatsu just ignored all the looks and increased her speed in the direction. But when she arrived, there were already 2 figures reaching it first. Both were using bright yellow jackets with a black line, one of them was with a blue cap and the other had his eyes closed.

Atobe arrived a bit after her and went in the direction of the yellow dressed figures. One of them saw him and said. “Look Genichirou, it is Atobe.” The figure with the cap turned to them and shouted in a commanding voice. “Atobe, you are slacking off, that is why your team did not even classify for the nationals! Instead of training you are wasting time with a girl.”

Tatsu was already mildly irritated, and that guy talking things with her like she was not there was even more irritating. But she decided to not lose her cool so early on the day and let Atobe answer his friends, or rivals. “Ore-sama never slacks off, we are here for training, Sanada. Anyway these are Yanagi Renji and Sanada Genichirou, he is the vice-captain of Rikkai. You two, this is Tatsu.”

Tatsu should have been more polite but she only answered with a nod, socialization was not one of her best traits, especially on a bad mood day. They nodded back. Atobe continued. “We were going to play a match but Ore-sama sees you two are already using this court.”

“It is easy to solve that Atobe, play doubles against me and Yanagi, so you can train and we will still use the court.” Tatsu needed to make sure how good they were before challenging an unknown double. She guessed the easiest way was asking Atobe to compare himself and them with a player they both knew. She made her decision and asked.

“Atobe, do you know Tezuka Kunimitsu?” “Yes, Why?” “How good are you compared to him and how good are those two compared to him?” Atobe answered her simple and direct while the other two just stared at them. “Ore-sama is as good as Tezuka, and of those two, Sanada is as good as him also and Yanagi is almost on the same level.”

“Then, lets play doubles against them.” If they were on Tezuka level, she knew she could win, and probably she would not need to pass the danger zone either, even if they had perfect synchrony. The boys probably did not know she had more experience on Tennis than all of them. “Do you have any problem with it, Atobe?”

“You know, I normally do not play doubles, specially with people I just met. And I do not play to lose. Did you understood when I said how good they are? Atobe answered, he really did not wanna lose, specially for those two. He did not understand how that woman was eager to play doubles with someone she barely knew against two people she did not know.

“I am better than Tezuka, being honest, Tezuka never took one set away from me. If those two are on the level of Tezuka even if you don’t help, I can win. I trained Tezuka and Fuji Syusuke before. So trust me in what I am saying” She seemed pretty confident, so Atobe decided to place his bets on that, he was never a doubles player, but any day is the day to start.

They decided it would be a one set game. Atobe asked when they reached their side of the court. “Which positions do you play normally? Ore-sama is an all round player so the position on the court depends on your preferences.”

She examined their opponents before she answered. “I am an acrobatic and net player specialist, but judging for their height and our height the most difficult sets for us will be when they are serving and you are on the net, because much of my vision will be obstructed due to your height. Any set I serve will be a 60-0 for us so I would say to let them start serving and for me to be on the back of the court so I can serve on games 2 and 6 and we will have the hardest sets when the Yanagi guy is serving, since he seems to be the one serving first. Anything else I should know about their style?”

This was the longest sentence she had spoken to him, and her analysis was perfect, Atobe would be able to do it better only if he did it himself. “Yanagi is a data player, so he will probably focus on you at the start so he can gather your data.” “Great, so we have another won set.” She said while moving to her place in the court.

The game started, as Atobe predicted Yanagi served on her. Tatsu sent a fast backhand to her left side to see how fast Sanada would react. He returned with ease, and focused her also. She sent another backhand this time to Yanagi. She was paying close attention to his reactions because when he found the 100% probability to score spot she left opened on purpose would be when she would attack. Data players always so predictable. Three or four more returns and Yanagi found the open spot she had left and left his position to hit it.

Tatsu went for it, she knew exactly the spot he had chosen, so before she reached it, she let the racket fall from her right hand just to pick it up with her left with a fast turn and deliver it with enough rotation to go to the place in the court Yanagi had left open. 0-10.

Yanagi and Sanada looked at each other and decided to not underestimate her anymore. Atobe glanced back but nothing more than that.

Next serve. Atobe in front was really getting in the way of her vision field, she was still reacting fast enough but she had to trust him, thing that she really was not used to do. Another long rally started, Tatsu could not start breaking her limits this early so she just focused on covering everywhere she had vision of. But soon that was not enough. Sanada used his “invisible” swing, Fū, and Atobe was in front of Sanada’s arm, just in her line of sight. She could not predict where the ball was going for not seeing his arm.

Tatsu saw it just before the ball was touching the floor, it would be almost too late to try to get it on normal speed, she would have to use the “30% of all the pain” to reach, so she could speed up enough to be able to return the ball. She jumped and delivered it from between her legs. But it was not won yet. She left her area so she needed to go back before they returned the ball.

Tatsu turned on her feet and tried to go back to her place but Yanagi was already using a drop shot in one of the 100% probability points. She kept the 30% going so she could reach it on time, turned the racket in her hand and delivered a perfect copy of Tezuka’s Zero Shiki Drop Shot. 0-30.

Using the 30% this early was going to need her to end the game faster. She could already feel the pain starting to irradiate through her body. She heard a voice from the other side of the court.

“Sanada she actually returned your Fū, and made Tezuka’s drop shot.” “Yes, we slacked off!” But, more importantly, Atobe turned to her. “Oya, I won’t ask how did you double your speed back then but this is a doubles game, playing singles like you are will only make things more difficult.”

Tatsu knew that, it just had been so long, probably over 5 years she didn’t play doubles like this, actually she doubted she ever played any doubles match she enjoyed. But she decided to give that boy a chance. “Are you good at leading?” She asked simply. “Obviously I am.” “Good, then you will lead, I will follow all your orders, just tell me which side to go and I will trust your voice before I trust my eyes. I am not good on group work, but tell me all of the difficult shots, I will return them, you focus on scoring. They won’t be able to hit a shot I cannot return. That speed you saw is less than half of what I can do.”

“Let’s do it then, I hope you are good in following orders because Ore-sama’s senses are perfect.” And like that the game continued. Sanada and Yanagi kept playing well but they were not typical doubles players, probably if it was one of those Tatsu would have more problem, but staying just below of the “30% of all her pain” was enough to return all their shots. With that Atobe could score and it wasn’t long before they closed the first game. 0-60

“Atobe, I may mess up the stringing on your racket before this game is over. Also you can rest if you wish. This will be a clean game.” Tatsu said while going to her serve spot. “ Oya, do not underestimate our opponents because we won one game.” “I am not underestimating anyone. I just imagined you would like to watch this serve.”

Atobe may have answered something but Tatsu was already focused too much on the serve itself to hear. And the ball bounces the floor, once, twice, three times. On the third time she lets it pass above her head, when it is around 40 centimeters above her, she jumps. Finding the exact point of when the opponents go deliver is easy, so she just changes the body inclination mid-air, ignoring the muscular pain that comes with it. It is easy when she done this already more than a thousand times. Next time the ball is seen it is already on the floor and she already have the point. Sanada and Yanagi went for opposite directions and none of them went close to the landing point of her serve. 10-0.

“Genichirou I think this was a visual image.” “Yes, Renji, Niou uses something similar on his play style but I never saw it in a serve. Pay close attention for next time.”

One, two, three. This time she decided to go for a left serve. Let them decide the side they will be trying to receive from, let racket fall from right hand, pick it up with the left. Serve is done. The ball passes just on the back of Sanada. 30-0

“That was a different trick, wasn’t it? What is that called?” Atobe asked, now he was paying attention on her serve as Sanada and Yanagi were. “This is the Providence.” She answered. “Providence, or the manifestation of a god’s power and will, pretty pompous name, for a Tennis serve”. Patronized Atobe. “Yes, it is a well fitting name for a non-returnable serve.” Tatsu rebated.

Four serves, four different Providences, four points. Soon the game was 60-0. Yanagi and Sanada were as close to deliver the serve as they were on the first time they saw it.

The next games followed as the first one, even Sanada and Yanagi trying they did not manage to score, it came to a point in which Atobe was not giving any more orders but Tatsu was being able to move on the direction he wanted anyway, the way they were managing to synchronize all actions was amazing for two people that had only met on that day. When the fifth set was over and they were winning 5-0 already, all of them were showing signs of tiredness except Tatsu, and she had moved more than all of them in court.

Tatsu still had a lot of time until she needed to rest, or to suffer permanent damage to her body. In the end Atobe was a good double for her, he had the characteristic she always had been bad at on Tennis, the ability to analyze your opponent even on the most difficult parts of the game. Because when she passed the 50% the only thing she was able to see was the Tennis ball. Playing doubles with him showed to her a side of Tennis she had not seen in a long time, she was enjoying this match like she had not enjoyed any match in a long time.

Last set. One more Providence, same result. No one got close to the ball. Tatsu may have overdone this one, her right arm was complaining of the pain. Second, third and Fourth serve. Same result. A clean 6-0. Another win for Tatsu, but that was not what was important for her. She enjoyed this match, she really did. That’s why she could not stop herself from looking at her opponents and saying “Thank You. It was a really interesting game.” She took a small breath and seated on the bench near the court. “Thank you also, Atobe”

Maybe Atobe saw a smile on that girl’s face, or maybe he was just mistaken, but he sit on the bench also, Sanada and Yanagi approached. “Atobe, Tatsu-san, thanks for the game, I would like to play against both of you again. It was an impressive show of Tennis skills.” Renji completed. “There is still so much data I want to discover about you, Tatsu-san. I am impressed on how you managed to walk 243% of the distance each of us walked and not show any signs of tiredness. And how you neutralized all my data play.”

She turned her head to answer him. “I am a specialist on the style that is the best against Data Tennis, the Acrobatic. The only way you would be able to beat someone with a really good level of acrobatic would be if you had more endurance than him, since acrobatic play takes too much energy.” She sighted, the results of playing for around 60 minutes on the 30% were starting to show on her body. “And I am as tired as you are I just have more training than any of you for simple age comparison. I have had more time in my life to train my endurance.” “How old are you?” Atobe jumped to the question. “I am 20.” They were visibly a bit surprised, they did not expected she would be that older than them.

Soon the two opponents went their way, Tatsu thought hard about if she should or not tell Atobe what she noticed during the game, but in the end she decided to just deliver him his racket. “Thank you for borrowing me the racket, Atobe.” She said while getting up and giving him back his racket. “Stay with it, or you won’t have a racket to practice with today. And, give me your phone number. You can give it back when we play that singles match you talked about.”

Tatsu was amazed, she didn’t understand why that boy still wanted to play with her, or why she didn’t feel like rejecting it, soon the decision of not commenting her thoughts was erased from her mind and she spoke her real opinions. “Atobe, I tend to not say honest opinions about people because I don’t enjoy others prying into my life or in the way that I play Tennis. But, during our game, I noticed that you are straining your right arm.”

“So do you think there is something wrong about Ore-sama’s play style?” “No, there is nothing wrong about your play style, you are probably one of the best all-rounders I saw in your age. I don’t know what kind of training you are doing, if I had to guess, I would say you are coming up with a new server or with a different smash, but the training to do that is over extending your right arm muscles. If you continue doing it, you will suffer permanent damage on it.” She said that already getting up from the bench. Soon came his answer.

“Interesting, a girl I just met tell, from one match played with me, that I have been training something in a wrong way. Heh.” Atobe was more than impressed with this girl, she discovered he had been developing a new serve, and dared to criticize the way he trained for it. “So, pass me your phone number so we can play the singles match, and you show me how you think I should train to not strain my arm.”

Tatsu was expecting a denial after that sentence, but the boy amazed her again, she needed to go, the tiredness was washing her body and she still had to meet with Syusuke and the other Seigaku boy on the afternoon. A rest was almost a must. “ This was the best Tennis match I have had in years, but I need to go now. I still have too much to do today.”

This time, Atobe was sure he had seen a smile, that smile made the girl in front of him look dazzling. He could not say anything when she passed him her phone, or when he passed her his number, or when he saw she turning back with his racket held on her right hand and her long black hair cascaded through her back.   


* * *

 

Chapter 1.5.1 and 1.5.2: **A feeling of missing you.** ****  
  
Ryoma was irritated, he had been irritated since the Hyotei game, since Buchou had hurt his shoulder to try to win a game, from that day on, things had changed inside the Seigaku Tennis club. Three days after that game he saw, for the first time, his Buchou arguing with someone. Tezuka was arguing with their coach, Sumire-san. Ryoma did not hear the exact reason why they had a discussion but on the next day he learned his Buchou was going to go to Germany to treat his shoulder.   
  
His irritation kept growing, it was not because of the trip itself, but he felt left out for some reason that still was not clear for him. On that same day, Tezuka came to him and asked him to practice with Fuji-san after the normal club hours every day, it was going to be for the finals of Kanto. Who was going to train them, why after the club hours, why only him and Fuji, nobody had explained. The next days it seemed that Tezuka, Fuji and Sumire were sharing a secret that no one else was allowed to know.   
  
He only discovered what was this practice yesterday, Fuji called him in the morning saying that their first external practice was going to be on that afternoon, they met in a court nearby and he came to know who would be coaching them. He disliked the girl at start. He looked at her and decided he would dislike her, she was someone that was a part of his Buchou’s past, something that he wasn’t, he knew there was something else happening that he was not aware of.   
  
Losing to that girl, Tatsu, left him even more annoyed, he knew he was not even close to her abilities, she was the strongest opponent he had ever faced, compared only to his father. Tezuka did not appear to see the practice he arranged himself, another thing to fill Ryoma’s increasing doubts, his other questions were answered, tho. The girl told him she was not welcome on the Seigaku club and that Tezuka wanted for her to train them for the final of Kanto since he would be in Germany.   
  
He asked her why his Buchou had not come to the practice then? Why did he not appear in a practice he arranged. Ryoma saw for a second a sadness on the girl’s eyes, but soon her blank expression was back again and she answered that it was better that she and Tezuka did not meet in person. He did not understand how his Buchou could be close to someone enough to calling the person to train him but did not want to see that person face to face.   
  
Again he felt left out of the secret, again he was being treated like a kid and left out of the big secret they were all sharing. But he would see Tezuka tomorrow, before he gets his flight, and Ryoma thought to himself that he would make sure to ask all the questions he had.   


  
  
Sanada went to visit his captain that afternoon, everyday that passed Yukimura looked more pale and that always made Sanada’s chest hurt. He talked about how Rikkai was doing entering the finals of Kanto, how each of the players were improving and about how he had lost a match on that morning. His captain was surprised, but Yukimura laughed a bit when he admitted he had sub-estimated the girl and that he did not manage to break the combination between her and Atobe.   
  
His captain asked how Renji did on the game, he mentioned how the girl’s play style countered him completely, they discussed about acrobatic players and their strengths and weakness. Sanada talked about the girl unreturnable serve, what made Yukimura very interested, he could see on the his sick friend eyes how he wanted to see and to try to return that serve, that made his chest hurt even more.   
  
There was a pause on their conversation and after some seconds Seiichi said: “You and Renji are not a good double, anyway.” The way that he said that for some reason made Sanada feel embarrassed, he felt his face heating a bit for the way his captain looked at him, but soon he agreed. “Yes, me and Renji are not a good double.” 


	2. A Return to life (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the first day back to Japan, Tatsu has to go meet an old friend that needs a favor.

Saturday, it was a Saturday and she had to wake up at 6 a.m. She did not manage to rest last night, having a first practice with Syusuke and the other Seigaku boy, Ryoma, without Tezuka appearing made her remember all of the reasons he had to hate her, made her remember everything she had done. So came the nightmares, and the lack of sleep.

She thought about calling Atobe later to schedule that singles match. Tatsu would keep telling herself that it was only because she needed to deliver him his racket. And not because the match from yesterday was the first Tennis match in 5 years on which she did not wanted to die in every single second, on which she did not want all the pain to just go away.

But today she was prepared for an annoying day, her old music teacher and friend, Tarou Sakaki, wanted her to repay what she owed him, and since it is Tarou she did not know exactly what she needed to do. He had just specified on his messages for her to be on Hyotei Gakuen at 6:20 a.m. No delays. So here she was, in front of the school at 6 a.m., waiting for what next to do.

 

Sakaki-sensei had asked all the regulars to arrive today at 6 A.M., it was something new for them but after the loss against Seigaku, Atobe didn’t know what to expect, normally Sensei would send all the information to him by e-mail or phone and he would pass it to everyone else. But today all of them were reunited on an earlier time than normal, waiting for him. Sensei reaches the court and starts talking.

“After the loss against Seigaku we lost our chance for going to the National.” That sentence made everyone get reminded of the game, specially Hiyoshi, he was still thinking Hyotei’s loss was only his fault. “That was what we thought. But this year it was decided that the last slot for the nationals will be given to the winner in one of the 3 small Tennis tournaments which will take place on different parts of Japan.” Atobe could not contain his surprise.

“There will be another slot opened?” Atobe had asked the question all of them were thinking. “Yes, so we have another chance to get into the nationals. But this tournaments were made to put smaller schools into the nationals, to increase diversity, so they won’t be normal Tennis Tournaments and they won’t be anywhere near Tokyo.”

“When are these tournaments?” Hiyoshi asked interrupting Sakaki. “Let me finish, this is not the only information I have to give you today. Obviously we will be participating on this tournaments. But due to the lackluster results in the Kanto tournament, I decided to change something. I am not a coach I am just a music teacher. So I called an old student of mine to Hyotei today. This person is the best qualified to be the Hyotei coach.”

“Why would we need an unknown coach?” Atobe tried to understand Sakaki-sensei reasoning. Logically it was his fault, being the captain, that they lost against Seigaku, but inviting a person from outside to coach them was preposterous.

“This person’s knowledge and Tennis skill is above all of yours, and I would say that this person could beat all the best japanese professionals world wide, if he so wished.” All of the Hyotei players felt different now, for Sakaki-sensei to have such a high opinion for a player, this person needed to be amazing, so they decided to give it a shot for meeting this unknown person, even still being skeptic about it.

“There is one more detail, this person is a great Tennis player, but he still did not accept training the team yet. I invited him to the school, without specifying what exactly he needed to accomplish today. So you will decide if this person will be your coach by convincing him or not to train this team.” When Sakaki finished the sentence his phone started to ring. “Excuse me.” And he left the room.

The first one to speak was Jirou. “Amazing! I can’t even imagine how good this person will be at Tennis!” “I don’t like the thought of someone else here to give us orders” Shishido said. Yuushi turned to Atobe and asked. “Atobe, did you know something about this? Who is this coach?”

“I did not have any information about this before. Kabaji, call the researchers and check who is this person Sakaki-sensei is friends with. I am not agreeing to the decision of letting this person be our coach, but if it is someone that can increase Hyotei’s level Oresama will give it a try.”

 

Two minutes later they hear voices coming from the entrance of the Tennis club.

“I am impressed. We actually managed to talk for 5 minutes without you criticizing me or myself getting angry. This is probably a new record.” Atobe recognized that voice from somewhere, it did not seem like a male voice. “I don’t see a reason in criticizing someone that gave up on life.” “And I don’t see any reason for you to make someone that gave up on life wake up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday.”

“It can’t be.” Atobe said and run in the direction of the voices. The others followed behind him, he knew that voice, he had heard that voice yesterday and when he arrived on the entrance of the Tennis field there it was the same girl he has played with yesterday, Tatsu. He was surprised for a second but soon decided to call out to them.

“Ore-sama was not expecting to see you this soon, Tatsu, less even in my school.” She looked really surprised but Sakaki was the first one to answer to his affirmation. “Atobe, how do you know her?”

“We played a doubles match yesterday.” Sakaki seemed amazed “Tatsu playing doubles? I thought I would have to obligate her to play doubles but I guess arriving on time won’t be the only thing she do that will impress me today.” The other regulars arrived and saw the scene in which their, normally, so silent and serious club adviser was teasing someone, at least they believed that was a teasing because Sakaki was with the usual serious expression on his face.

“You know, I could answer to that provocation, Tarou, but I would have to lower the level of the conversation and it is too early for that. And hello, Atobe, I also did not think I would see you again so soon.” The Hyoutei team heard that answer, and noticed that unknown girl somehow knew Atobe and called Sakaki-sensei by his first name. Mukahi was the first to express his surprise.

“Our coach will be that girl?” He asked shouting on Oshitari’s ear. “Don’t shout Gakuto, I am sure Sakaki-sensei would not want a beautiful Ojou-san to be our coach.” Before Sakaki could answer the girl stated. “That’s what you wanted, for me to coach your team. No I won’t do it. I do not wanna coach your team, and the favor I owe you won’t make me do it.”

She said it in loud tone staring directly at Sakaki, he didn’t even blink before answering her. “I am not here to make you coach my team, I am not Tezuka and I won’t use a favor that you think you owe me do make you coach my students like he made you come to Japan and start coaching Fuji and Echizen for the finals of the Kanto Tournament. You will **want** to coach my team until the day is over.” The air was tense between them, Sakaki could see he reached a turning point with Tatsu’s mood but he knew this was the only way to deal with someone like her, someone that is hiding all her feelings in an empty front. Some seconds passed and still no answer from her, after he heard her sigh he knew he had won, at least for now.

“So, since we are decided for today’s training and all the club is here, I will let you know how things will work for today. All of you will be playing doubles against Tatsu and Haginosuke. Haginosuke step forward.” Haginosuke started looking around himself, seemingly in panic, and asked “Me? Why me?”

“Because you are a specialist in doubles and you don’t have a partner right now.” Sakaki answered. Haginosuke started shaking but tried to act cool in front of his teammates.

Sakaki continued. “The doubles already been decided by me, it will be Atobe and Oshitari, Mukahi and Hiyoshi, Ootori and Shishido. Since Haginosuke cannot return Kabaji’s plays, Tatsu will play a singles match against Kabaji and one against Jirou. These will be 3 game practice matches, you, students, will serve on the first two sets, then we will have a break for Tatsu to express her opinions about your playstyle and how you can improve from what she saw. On the last game you will serve for the first two points adding what she told you on your play style and she will serve for the last two points. You can use the changing room on the next door in the right, Tatsu, the rest direct yourselves to court 3. Dismissed.”

Atobe passed the next minutes explaining to them how he knew that woman, and about the game they had yesterday, everyone had their different opinions about everything and Haginosuke seemed to be shaking even more every second that passes. “Taki, stop being scared, she is someone that completely destroyed Sanada and Yanagi, it will go ok for you.” Atobe tried to get his teammate to calm down. “I don’t want a girl to coach me.” Hiyoshi said. “I need to say it would be great to have a cute Ojou-san like her for me to be able to stare at everyday.” Oshitari started daydreaming.

Soon Tatsu was back to court with her normal practice uniform, Sakaki asked Jirou to go first while telling Taki to observe Tatsu’s play style to help her better on the double games. As soon as she arrived Sakaki returned and directed his next orders to Tatsu. “Tatsu, I have 3 rules for today. First, no swearing. Second, try to avoid your Devil’s mode, I don’t want any of my students mentally affected by your style of play when you get mad. And third and most important, if I say stop it means stop, I don’t want to have to take you to a hospital again. Any questions?”

She turned her face to Sakaki and asked a simple question. “Does swearing in languages you cannot understand, count?” She asked with a smirk, Sakaki seemed taken back, he was sure she would complain of the third rule and not about the swearing, since she heard no answer she said two words directly to Sakaki. “Cyka Blyat” And went to her receiving zone without a word. “Atobe, which language is that?” Shishido asked, outside of the court. “I don’t know, but it is not English, German or Greek.”

The game started, Jirou seemed really hyped up for the possibility of playing against a strong opponent. He started with a normal serve, Tatsu returned as a backhand but Jirou had already moved to the net to use his “Magic Volley”. He returned with an impressive back swing to the right of the court and Tatsu had to exchange racket to the left hand to be able to return, but since Jirou was still on the net he easily made a placed drop shot just in front of him. When he thought he had already scored, Tatsu made a dive and managed to catch the ball just before it reached the court, it was easy for her acrobatic style to stand on her foot after that but Jirou did not have time to get to the back of the court to return her counter. 0-15.

“Wow, amazing! You returned my magic volley like it is nothing! How did you do it?” The girl looked surprised by Jirou’s eagerness and did not give any answer. He managed to canalize his excitement and go back to his serving position.

For the next 2 games Jirou continue serving but all his magic volleys were returned, every time he tried to go for the net play Tatsu was already there, and being there, her acrobatic made her have more reach, defeating him in all the points. After it was done the girl approached the middle of the court and started speaking in an unfamiliar way, it was clear she was not very comfortable with giving Tennis directions to unknown people.

“Jirou isn’t it? Your Tennis style is really similar to mine in the past, especially the ability to serve and go for the net just after it. The biggest flaw I see is that you have an amazing natural talent to be able to return volleys in any point, but you lack in movement speed and your movement to the net is somewhat predictable.” She went to her serving point. “This, is how you serve.” She made a perfect copy of Jirou’s net Volley play. “And this is how you should serve to not make it look so obvious” She did a simple serve and moved to the net, the biggest difference was that she did not gave any clue of her movements before she did them.

“I can’t explain in words, but the way you serve shows when and where you are going in the net, if you reduce the radius of the movement you do with your arm it may help.” There was a minute of silence in which the girl seemed pretty uncomfortable but Jirou just started shouting while running to his serve spot. “Amazing! So you mean If I serve like that I will be able to confuse my opponents better? I had never thought about that!”

He used all his excitement to do the next serve and it was clear for everyone outside the court how that simple change on the serve movement had improved Jirou’s game. In his two last serves Jirou did not score, and it was the time for Tatsu to serve. Atobe’s voice was heard from outside of the court. “Pay attention, this is the serve that I told you guys about. The providence.” Hiyoshi added his comment . “I want to see the serve that Yanagi and Sanada could not return, Gekokujyo hm.”

They watched her serve, she made the ball bounce on the floor three times, on the third time she let the ball pass above her head. The next thing they noticed was Jirou running to the right side of the court and half a second later the ball passing on the completely opposite direction Jirou had run to. “Wow! What was that? I was sure I saw that the ball would come this way, how did you manage to make it go to the other way? It was so cool!” Jirou exclaimed.On the side of the court the other players were discussing about the serve also. “That was an acrobatic play move. I am sure it was.” Mukahi affirmed. “But an acrobatic move used on a serve? Have you ever seen something like that Mukahi-san?” Ootori asked.

They continued their discussion but Tatsu had already made her second serve and it was the time for the first double, Hiyoshi and Mukahi, and Haginosuke to join the court, and Jirou was already outside near Atobe shouting how amazing it was the serve they just saw. Haginosuke started walking to court, he was still trembling a bit but it seemed it stopped as soon as Tatsu spoke to him. The Hyotei members could not hear what she said from there but Haginosuke gained some confidence and they started the game.

First to serve was Mukahi, Haginosuke returned his shot but he was noticeably shaken by it, Hiyoshi targeted him with his return, the long haired boy went for it, he managed to catch the ball but he lost his equilibrium just after. Haginosuke braced himself expecting to fall down, but his left arm was held by something and pulled him back on his foot. Everything happened quickly, Tatsu managed to make Haginosuke stand on his feet and still return the ball Gakuto had sent, expecting to score while his comrade was falling. But she returned and scored. 0-15.

“Hm. Haginosuke, can you please let go of my arm now?” The girl said to their teammate that had grabbed her arm back trying not to fall and still had not let go. He took half a second to agree with her request, still amazed their “new coach” had saved him from falling, after he exclaimed, almost crying. “You. Saved. Me. And still scored after. It is so amazing! You are the best person ever! Only Shishido-san once saved me on the pool, but this was way greater! Thank you so much!” The girl seemed clearly not used to this display of affection, so she just went back to her receive spot to continue the game.

The two sets were over soon, Tatsu returned all of Mukahi’s acrobatic volleys without a problem and Hiyoshi’s Enbu Tennis caused some problems at start, making the girl run the entire court to be able to return them but in the end the Hyotei double did not manage to score a single point. Like she had done with Jirou, she approached the net and started talking with her opponents.

“Mukahi, isn’t it? You are, probably, the lightest player I have ever met, and the height you can jump and return the volleys from is impressive but you are missing the point of the acrobatic volley.”

The red haired did not like the way that girl was talking to him and answered her in a surly manner. “What do you mean I am missing the point? I am the best acrobatic player from Kanto tournament.” Before any of the ones watching could reprehend Mukahi, Tatsu spoke up, not seeming bothered by the tone the younger boy used with her.

“There are two reasons of why you use the acrobatic volley. First, to reach balls that would be unreachable by other players and second, to confuse the players being able to return balls from impossible ways for everyone else. Anything besides those two points is a waste of energy. It is a known fact that the acrobatic play requires more endurance so just training your physical abilities to increase endurance won’t help you. You need to remove from your plays the unnecessary moves, like that you will conserve energy way more.” She made a small pause before continuing.

“I know you are a good acrobatic player, if you wasn’t I would not be talking with you right now. So review your acrobatic and eliminate all the unnecessary moves so stamina won’t be a problem for you anymore.” Mukahi never thought of changing his moves to be effective while keeping energy, on his mind it was his fault for not having done enough physical training, he decided to try to follow the new direction this girl was giving him.

“Now about you, martial arts guy, it is the first time I have seen a Tennis style like yours, so it was difficult for me to adapt to it during game. If you continue practicing you will grow to be a good all rounder player. There is a clear problem I see on your style, tho. You wait for your opponent to do something and then you react, I don’t understand what is your point for doing that, but when you are playing a game against an opponent that knows that he or she is better than you, you won’t have time to wait, analyze and then find a counter. Just give your all from the start on this kind of situations.”

Hiyoshi did not give her any answer but he also decided to implement what that girl had told him, they served twice and, again, everybody else could notice clear improvement, just from getting some clear instructions from that person that would maybe become their coach. When she went to serve the same happened Hiyoshi and Mukahi went for opposite directions and the ball passed far from both of them. Next double would be Ootori and Shishido.

Ootori started with his scud serve, Haginosuke left his spot and let Tatsu return it. The girl manage to return the serve on first try but after she stared at her right arm for some seconds before changing the racket for the left hand. Ootori got his serve right 4 times in a row but she managed to return it every single time, Shishido’s dashes were not enough to get the points and before they realized it was already a 0-2 loss.

But this time, instead of just approaching the net Tatsu went directly to their side of the court, stood next to Ootori and asked a simple question. “How tall are you?” Ootori was not expecting that kind of question so he could not answer for some seconds. “Oh, hm, well. I am, like, around 1.84 meters?” The girl in front of him made an expression of interest, and went in a circle around Ootori, staring at him the entire time. After the really awkward action she stood in front of him and said.

“The kind of shoes you are using, are not recommended to your height, and it is actually reducing the jump potential of your serves. You have an amazing serve but your propulsion is not what it should be compared to your height.” Ootori answered in a low voice. “But these are the same models Shishido-san uses.” “And he is more than 10 centimeters shorter than you are. So the shoes are wrong, you will be able to increase a lot the effectiveness of your serve with a different model.” Tatsu said it with so much confidence that Ootori could only murmur an agreement before the girl turned to Shishido.

“You are the perfect type of player to use only split steps on your play, it will be really draining physically at start but with your fast side dash you will be able to do it. I know that training with only split steps is something that professionals use, but I see in you the capability to learn something like that.” Shishido’s answer left Tatsu with a surprised expression on her face for a couple of seconds. “I will train it then, coach.” “I am not your coach.” She said, while walking back to the side of the court.

The last game passed quickly, still no one got close to return her serve. But, finally, Atobe thought, was his turn. It wasn’t the singles match he wanted to play against her, but this time he would be sure to find all her weak points with his marvelous Insight. He let Oshitari serve first so he could start observing her game. They both had the same idea to focus their attacks on Tatsu because it was her the one they wanted to beat.

The Atobe/Oshitari double was not managing to score, but Tatsu could not do it either, Atobe was pressuring, not letting her go up to the net, but still his Insight was giving him unclear answers, while he thought about that, the girl used the same speed she had used on the match she played with him and was able to score right in between him and Oshitari, his partner turned to him. “Atobe, had you seen that speed before?” “Yes, it was the same she used to beat Sanada and Yanagi.”

Atobe was growing more restless as the points were lost, his combination with Oshitari was far from good but still he was not able to use his Insight properly, it somehow showed that Tatsu’s entire body was her weak point, and that did not make any sense. Before he realized the two games were lost, his smashes and Oshitari’s counters were not enough to stop that girl, that seemed to be growing on speed at every point. After the second game she approached his partner first.

“You have a very similar build to someone else I trained before, Tezuka. And I think, like him you should go for learning more drop shots. But you also, has the same problem as he does, you did not show me your Tennis on this games, if you don’t show me your real potential I won’t be able to help you.” Oshitari smiled at the girl and answered. “Ojou-san, you are, clearly, better than all of us, so I would need more time analyzing your play style before I can effectively use my counters against you.” She turned back from him and gave an answer “If you don’t try to defeat your opponent, not even being as good as you are will get you anywhere.”

Before she could start talking to Atobe, he asked her. “Why does my perfect Insight shows that your weak points on Tennis are your entire body?” He saw a really sad expression pass through her face for a second but it was soon erased, and instead of giving him any directions she simply turned away from him and said, while walking back to her side of the court. “Because my weak point **is** my entire body.”

The last two points they served were the most dragged out ones, Oshitari decided to start playing everything he knew so he just kept sending counter after counter to Tatsu’s direction, combined with Atobe’s smashes and views made the points took a long time to be decided. Soon Tatsu was playing by herself against both of them, Haginosuke was too tired on the corner after playing so many games in a row. In the end the girl still scored twice, and then it was the time for her to serve.

Atobe was completely focused on returning that serve, he knew it was possible he just needed to get into Tatsu’s mind and discover the trick behind the acrobatic she was using. The first time she served he thought he had seen something, a slight expression of pain, just before she served, but, still, him and Oshitari were deceived by her first serve. On the second serve Atobe decided to go for the vision he had on her expression of pain, he ignored completely the movement on her arm or of the ball, he put all his focus on moving when he saw that pain expression and to the direction that was most likely for a serve with that timing to go. He went blindly for it, and when he was returning he saw he got the ball’s direction right, but his speed was too low to be able to actually return her serve. He knew how close he got to returning it and that annoyed him even more.

Tatsu looked amazed, she did not say anything but Sakaki knew she was impressed for a student to be able to get so close of returning her Providence, he also knew that for Atobe to be capable of doing something like that he needed to be suspecting the way that the girl play Tennis. After the last match, tho, everything would be clear. “Kabaji is your turn.” He said that and then turned to Tatsu and gave her the clearest directions he could, in the end, he did not want to see her hurt, not again. “Tatsu, if you don’t use your 40% you will end up breaking your arm against him. I know that you don’t like when people hold their strength so just play serious for this match.”

“Then, give me 5 minutes before start.” The girl had actually listened to him, he started to have some hope for her full recovery for the first time in 5 years. So he turned to Atobe and said. “Atobe, tell Kabaji to play at his full potential since the start of the game, or this will be done in 5 minutes.” “Sensei it’s impossible for her to return Kabaji’s shots! The girl will end up getting hurt” Mukahi protested before Atobe could answer. “You still have not seen her play serious, Mukahi.” Sakaki answered his student and set on the court’s bench, he would have to pay close attention to this match. Tatsu had already played 12 games without pause, ever a stamina like hers should be ending soon.

Atobe was still annoyed for his performance on the previous match, and learning that Tatsu was not taking the matches seriously angered him ever more. He told Kabaji to  play seriously since the start. The girl was still standing on the same spot she had been since Sakaki-sensei told her his instructions, she had her head lowered and her eyes closed, Atobe could see that her right arm, in which she was holding the racket, was twitching a bit. She upped her head and said to Sakaki. “Ready”.

But something was terribly wrong in Atobe’s eyes, the girl’s stare was not blank, it was a mix between pain and sadness, the same he had seen for a second when she was serving. He saw Kabaji starting his first serve, Tatsu was staring directly in front and just before Kabaji served, she murmured: **“Schmerz ist eine Illusion.”** Less than a second after Hiyoshi was turning at him to ask what the girl had said, he translated with his perfect German. “She said pain is an illusion.”

He had turned from the game for a second to answer Hiyoshi, when he re focused his attention she had already returned Kabaji’s serve and they were in a strength duel, but Kabaji was not copying her play style, something was wrong there also, his long time friend seemed to not want to keep playing. Every time the girl returned a shot, Atobe saw that pain filled expression on her face again, and finally he understood how that girl managed to double or triple her normal speed and strength whenever she wanted and when he reached that conclusion he was ready to stop the game. But Kabaji did it first.

Kabaji stopped on the middle of the court and did not move anymore, he looked at Sakaki and said. “I cannot continue the match. The girl is in pain.” Not Tatsu or Sakaki answered anything, Atobe entered the court and expressed his conclusions staring directly at her. “I understand why you can easily double your speed anytime you want. You are over stretching your muscles during the games, Ore-sama is still not sure how you do it but you are, on purpose, causing lesions to your muscles to make them over perform! Kabaji can’t copy you because he would not be able to handle the pain, no one should be able to handle the pain but it is like you are just ignoring it.”

The girl turned to him and the pain expression that was on her face was replaced by a sad one. “Yes, you are right, the play style I use when I play seriously consists in damaging my muscles by over extension, but it is not impossible to handle the pain that comes with it, it just needs practice and time. The human body is an amazing tool, specially it’s capabilities of healing, even if I push my body this far, or a bit further than this, I don’t get any permanent damage from it.”

Mukahi joined Atobe in the middle of the court and shouted to Tatsu. “Why would you play Tennis if you are only feeling pain?” The girl gave them a very sad smile before she answered. “Because Tennis is the only thing I have left.” The sad tone and the smile the girl was showing was enough to stop both from answering the affirmation. Sakaki approached them and talked with Tatsu. “You must be close to your limit, it’s close to midday already and you have been playing since 7 a.m. non-stop. Go rest before we have a break for lunch.” The normal lack of expression came back to the girl’s eyes, she sit besides Sakaki and closed her eyes

“The coach sleeping makes me want to sleep also.” said Jirou already laying on the floor. Sakaki ignored him and directed himself to the rest of his team. “I met Tatsu long ago when two of my friends asked me to teach music to their daughter, her. I never managed to teach her anything because she was only playing Tennis all the time, that was my first contact with the sport itself. Back then she was the captain of Seigaku, and since her second year of high school she was already considered to be the best player in Japan, but her team always lacked behind, the girls had no will to win and were only playing Tennis as a fun activity.

On Tatsu’s third year the team reached the finals of the national tournament, but they were against a team that was way better than them. The rest of Tatsu’s team followed Sumire-san’s directions and did not even try to win the match since they seen themselves as so inferior. After Seigaku lost the doubles match Tatsu, being the captain, gathered with the team to talk and discovered they had already lost the game on their minds. She got in a fight with Sumire about going over her captain title and giving directions for the team, so she went and asked the best player of the opponent team to play the singles 3 against her. Tatsu won in a 6-0, without giving any room for the other girl to breathe, but in the end they lost the tournament.

There is more to this story but to know the rest you should ask Tatsu herself, maybe one day she decides to tell you. She is here on Japan right now because Tezuka used a favor she owed him to ask her to train Fuji-kun and Echizen-kun for the finals of the Kanto Tournament since he will be in Germany to heal his arm, and Tatsu is still not welcome on Seigaku due to the fight she had with Sumire.

Tatsu is the perfect coach for our team and all of you probably noticed it already, she will help our team improve. When she wakes up we will go to the cafeteria to have lunch and you guys have the rest of the afternoon to convince her to be our coach. Her play style is different and it directly damages herself but I guarantee you that she will make us be the champions.” Sakaki said all this history without changing the empty expression on his face.

Atobe knew there was a big part of that story missing, he still could not completely understand that girl or the way she acted. His curiosity of the girl’s capacity was huge and somehow he felt attracted to her persona and to all the secrets that were behind that. He remembered what Tatsu had told him the day before how she did not enjoy others looking into her life and he let out a small laugh. “Heh, so our new coach needs a team to make her win the nationals? I think Hyotei is the perfect team for that. And she will be our coach, won’t it Kabaji?”

When Tatsu was starting to wake up the first thing she heard was: “Usu.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the hardest chapter to write until now, and it turned into this monster when I was done. But hope you enjoy it!


	3. A Guilty Heart (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Development of feelings. Ryoma confronts Tezuka about being left out of everything. A moment of happiness for everyone.

Chapter 3: **A Guilty Heart.**

  
“Why does a High-school has such a huge cafeteria? Isn’t it kinda… too much?” Tatsu said that while sharing a table with all the Sakaki’s Tennis Club members, from the tableware to the food everything seemed a bit too much for a school, it reminded her of past times but, this time, was not an unpleasant memory.   
  
Since the beginning of that day, she had felt for Tarou’s trap, she felt for his provocations, especially when he had used Tezuka’s name and the reason for her to be on Japan. The guilt she still carried was something her old teacher knew about, so she went and trained his team, and it was not a bad experience. Not bad is not enough to describe, Tatsu liked it, she would die before she admit it in front of anyone but she really did enjoy her time. When the boy had almost returned her serve, she felt scared and joyful at the same time, it was like he had catch a glimpse of her heart. Even when they had found out how her Tennis worked, what she felt from them was not disgust or fear, their words were full of worry and concern.   
  
The boy, she decided the best thing to her brain right now was to refer at him as just “the boy”, she had already too much to deal without adding the boy to that equation. She decided to just put any concern about him behind that closed curtain inside her mind, in a place she normally did not reach, so she would not risk breaking this happy feeling she had. Playing Tennis with all of them reminded her of something she had lost a long time ago.   
  
“Oya, Tatsu, we were just asking you which style meal you want, are you hearing us?” Atobe was asking her, Tatsu realized she had lost herself in thought while they were waiting for lunch. “Hm, I want like… What do you have to eat here?” The red haired boy was the one to shout his answer to her. “Oh there is like Natto, and Japanese meals and Atobe always have some expensive sweets.”  “You don’t need to shout over me Mukahi.” Atobe said to the boy sitting beside him. “I had just explained to her that we have various types of international meals composed by three courses, well designed by the kitchen staff to improve our exercise rate...”  
  
The rich boy continued to speak but Tatsu’s mind had already focused on something else that was said. “Expensive sweets? Then I want cake.” Atobe blinked three times and before he could process what she had just said, Mukahi and Jirou had already leaned over him to shout their approval. “Agreed! I totally want cake for lunch also!” “Can we get some Pocky also with the cake?”  
  
“Pocky? Maybe a Pocky cake then?” Tatsu answered, Jirou shouted agreeing to her and Mukahi was already getting up from the table to order the cake when Atobe finally managed to speak again. “A cake? Without an appetizer and a main dish it cannot even be considered food!” Oshitari also agreed with his captain. “You people can’t eat only cake for lunch, it is unhealthy.” Gakuto and Jirou made a sad face but were tending to agree with the taller boys,  but Tatsu joined the discussion, since the main idea was hers. “Why can’t it be called food? Having one course or three course meals don’t matter at all for something to be considered food or not, I have to admit that it is not very healthy but neither is eating Spaghetti’s, Lasagnas or too much meat. And people still do it anyway, eating cake one day is not gonna make anyone die.”  
  
At that moment Sakaki entered the cafeteria, he had passed the last minutes dealing with all the paperwork to hire Tatsu as a coach, he knew the girl enough to know she was already getting attached to his team. He heard about the cake discussion and went to reprimand his students. “It is preposterous for you two, Jirou-kun and Gakuto-kun to think about eating only cake for lunch, having an established meal it is necessary for exercising.” The two boys only did shake their head in agreement, seeming to be very uncomfortable to be lectured by Sakaki . “And you, Tatsu, how old do you think you are to want to eat only cake as lunch? You should have grown up by now.”  
  
When he finished the sentence he realized the mistake he had just made, Tatsu was not one of his students, she was a stubborn woman that knew way too much about his past, like he knew about hers. And confronting her with an age argument was only going to end badly for him, but before he could correct his mistake, the woman as already speaking with a grim on her face. “Oh I am too old to have cake? Aren’t you like old enough to be married already? You are like 42, 43? If I remember correctly didn’t you have a fi...” He shouted in a loud voice for one of the kitchen staff to come before the woman could finish her sentence and said: “Make a Pocky Cake.” He left the room quickly not bothering to look back at his old friend that was, for sure, with a victory smirk staring at his back.   
  
For a minute the entire Hyotei was trying to process the situation they had just witnessed, their, so serious, club adviser had just ordered a Pocky Cake, no one in the entire school would ever believe them if they said that something like that happened. The first one to speak was Jirou with a victory shout. “YAY, we will have Pocky Cake!” After that, no one else contested the Pocky Cake, what made Jirou and Gakuto very happy during that lunch.   
  
After the lunch break they all returned to court, the afternoon was spent doing only physical training, Tatsu kept coaching only with small directions while she reproduced almost the same activities as all of the regulars. She was still unsure how to proceed, she knew that she would have to decide to coach or not that team but not taking risks always seemed like the easier path to her. Tatsu knew that she would not be able to handle having her faith broken again, so she was tending to not accept coaching their team. Probably Tarou would be sad, she thought, he was not a person of very many friends, like her.   
  
When Tatsu finally took the decision to not accept coaching she heard a voice calling. “Oya, you really have the habit of just ignoring when I talk with you, don’t you?” It was Atobe, he had his racket in hand and looked like he had just finished some heavy physical practice. “I was… Thinking.” She said, without directly looking at the boy. “If you stand in the middle of the court with that sad look on your face others will think you hate being here.”  
  
Sad look? Tatsu did not realize she was expressing any sadness. This boy had an insane ability to see right through her concealed feelings, it was scary and… exciting, no, she had to stop that line of thought, she was losing herself on her mind again. When the girl re gathered her thoughts, she noticed Atobe was already way closer to her. Too close. He looked on her eyes and said: “You love Tennis. Ore-sama noticed it when we played together, even with all the pain, you still love Tennis. I can see it in your eyes, even behind that empty face you fail to keep. So stop doing it. Stop standing with that face and do something. I can’t stand to look at someone that is better than me and still stands in the court like that is such a chore. You won against me. Show something else then sadness!”  
  
Atobe had finally let out all the annoyance he was keeping during the day, he could not understand that girl, at the same time she was enjoying playing a match she was with that sad face. She was the best Tennis player he had ever seen. After his speech, the girl did not answer him immediately, when he considered berating more though, she gave him a smile. It was the same beautiful smile he had seen yesterday but this time he was much closer to it. It wasn’t a full happy smile either, Atobe still could see a hint of sadness on her eyes. His prior annoyance disappeared.   
  
“I have a better guess now, you are testing a new server, aren’t you? That is why you are over extending your right arm.” The girl asked him. He answered: “Yes I am.” There was a silence between them and the beautiful smile had left Tatsu’s face. She turned to go away but Atobe reached for her and held her over the bandages on her right arm. He felt her arm shaking, it was like she did not wanted anyone to touch that specific area but he held her and said: “Coach us. I believe with you coaching us we can win the nationals. So coach us.” He said the last sentence while letting go of her arm and turning around and leaving. The next time he heard the girl talk she was telling Sakaki she would like to be their coach.   
  
  
On that day at night, Tatsu entered her house, no one would be there to greet her. She was still not used to being back on that house all by herself. Somehow she missed her apartment in Germany, it was as empty as this house but all the years she has passed there made it a preferred place for her. She let her bag fall to the floor and her body to the couch, to finally get some rest after the tiring day.   
  
Stretching her arm, Tatsu picked up the phone from her bag and typed Syusuke’s number. Talking to him was always easier than talking with Tezuka, so she decided to use his goodwill once more for listening to her, and then Fuji himself would pass the information to Tezuka. The phone rang for a bit but when it picked up, it wasn’t Syusuke’s voice. It was his older sister and Tatsu old time friend, Yumiko Fuji.   
  
“Tatsu-chan! Syusuke told me you were back to Japan. We should go hang out.” Yumiko’s voice was cheery as always, Tatsu felt more tired just hearing her voice on phone, socialization really was not her strong point, so she held a sight and asked: “I called to talk with Syusuke, is he around?” “Rash and direct as normally. Syusuke went out with his friends but forgot his phone at home, sorry.” Yumiko answered, when Tatsu was going to say goodbye and turn off the call, the older woman started to speak again.   
  
“Tatsu-chan, Yuuta is going to be home tomorrow, he and some friends are going to a Tennis court nearby, I will probably join them to share some lunch, you should come too. Syusuke won’t be there since he is seeing Tezuka off at the airport, but come, Tatsu-chan. Don’t push us away again. Please.” Tatsu hated how weak she was against people from her past asking for favors, she just felt so bad after everything that had happened, after the lack of news from her part.   
  
“You still live on the same place?” Tatsu asked. “Yes! We can meet up here at home or on the court of the neighborhood, just try to arrive before lunch time! I will bring you some sweets.” Before the black haired girl could even answer, Yumiko had already ended the call, and now Tatsu was stuck with plans for tomorrow. She could pretend to be annoyed and angry to not be able to just slack on Sunday, but deep inside, she was thankful for her friend still be concerning herself with her after all the time apart.   
  
  
Atobe arrived home at 8:30, after a workout on his family’s gym, he went straight for the dining hall. He was still on a thoughtful mood, Tatsu, the girl he had met for only 2 days was already leaving him disconcerted. He questioned if he should research about her past or not, it would be a big intrusion on her privacy but he wanted to know, he wanted to understand why that girl had such a big influence on him.   
  
“Keigo-sama?” His butler, Philip, had been talking to him about dinner, but Atobe had just noticed it. “Yes, Philip, I was lost in thought.” “I was just reminding Keigo-sama that your parents will be returning from Italy next friday and that the dinner will be served in a minute.” His servant left his message but did not step from the side of the table, after a few seconds, Philip added: “Keigo-sama, do you feel alright? You were lost in thought yesterday also, do you wish me to call a physician?” So even his longtime butler was noticing how he was. “No need, I am fine Philip, I just met an unusual person yesterday.” The butler gave him a slight bow and said, while getting away from the table. “I wish you all the luck in learning more about this unusual person, Keigo-sama.”  
  
Learning, yes, that was what Atobe needed to do. It would not be fair to ask others to research on the black haired girl, he needed to do it himself, and the best way to start was to be able to return her serve. With that in mind he skipped dinner and went to practice on his mansion’s courts.

His butler found him sleeping on the court after 2 am. Atobe was having a pleasant dream that he would not remember on the next day, but it was about that girl, flowers, and her smile.   
  
  
Ryoma thought this was all a waste of time, if Tezuka hadn’t agreed to go, he would have just gone home, but Tezuka agreed and he had to talk with his Buchou, not that he had made any progress on archiving that, yet. Shuichiro-sempai had this amazing idea of taking everybody to watch the sunrise on a mountain and now, there Ryoma was, at 4 am, climbing a mountain.

The last time Tezuka had spoken was when they were debating the idea or going or not, Ryoma noticed, the past 4 hours of the trip he was just staring at the landscape. He knew his Buchou really enjoyed mountain climbing, but something seemed off about him, more than it was on the past days.   
  
They reached the top of the mountain a bit before 5 am so they still had some time until dawn, Ryoma saw Tezuka strolling a bit far from the group so he followed to finally be able to talk alone with the tall boy. He found him sitting near a tree and approached. “Buchou” “Echizen” Tezuka answered the younger boy without completely facing his way. Ryoma felt an air of melancholy from his answer, but he decided to go straight to the point. “I think you have something to explain to me, Buchou.” “I do.” But Tezuka still did not face him, and all the anxiety and doubt Ryoma had been feeling started to boil and soon he voiced it all.   
  
“Why am I training with that girl? Why didn’t you appear to the practice? Why did she tell me it would be better if the two of you did not see each other? Why did you have a fight with Sumire-san? Why does it seem that you and Fuji-sempai have a secret you are not telling anyone?” He just said everything at once, not giving room for his Buchou to answer. Tezuka waited for the younger boy to speak out all his doubts before he answered. “Echizen I will explain everything, just calm down, the story is long, so take a seat.” Ryoma set besides his captain and waited for the taller boy to start to answer.   
  
“I met Tatsu around 4 to 5 years ago, I was 11 years old, she was 16. I was going back from school with Syusuke, he told me he had started playing Tennis because a friend of his sister turned Tennis into this amazing thing to watch, I wasn’t very convinced so he took me to a court in which this person was playing. Then I saw her, she was playing solo against two older guys, and it seemed like nothing for her. She had a short black hair and was wearing Seigaku Tennis Club jacket, her lips were twisted on a smirk. She defeated her opponents easily and during the entire game I could not stop staring at that girl, yes I had fallen for her.”  
  
Ryoma felt his chest tighten when his captain pronounced those words but he didn’t interrupt while his captain continued his story. “Soon Syusuke introduced us and she started to appear when me and him were practicing Tennis, after some time she was coaching us, telling us how we put more effort into practicing then her entire team and all of that made me want to play even more. My greatest mistake is that I had idealized Tatsu in my head, for me she was the queen of the court, the girl that always called me by my first name and that showed her overconfident side to everyone. She was my first love.  
  
She coached us for months, but soon it was the time for her team to attend the finals of the nationals, we saw how annoyed she was with her team, but she still went to the training before everyone and tried her best to make all the girls play better. In the end, Tatsu was pushing her team too much, back then I did not notice because I was completely partial to her side, so Sumire-san, that was the club adviser, intervened. I still believe that using her authority and passing over Tatsu was not the best option in the end, but Sumire did it and Seigaku lost the finals.  
  
On that same day, Tatsu’s parents died, I cannot tell you the full of this part because it would enter too much into her personal life but later on that week I learned her true self, not the queen of the court I had imagined, but the real Tatsu. And that broke my heart. It was not her fault by any means, because an 11 year old idealized her, but I still blamed her with my eyes, I was a spoiled kid and I put the blame on her. I throwed my feelings on her when she had just lost her parents and I felt bad for myself, and not for her.  
  
Ryoma could hear on Tezuka’s voice his guilt, he didn’t know what to say to comfort his Buchou so he just got close to where the older boy was sitting and let their shoulders touch and that seemed to be enough to make him continue his story. “That is why is better for me to not see Tatsu because I don’t want to look in her eyes and see the guilt that I, unjustly, put there. I don’t have enough courage to even apologize to her after all this time. I am sorry Ryoma, that I am such a cowar...” The younger just interrupted him. “No, you are not a coward, you just were too young back then to understand everything, if you just apologized to her you could fix almost everything, Buchou.” “Do you think I am able to apologize after all this time?” Tezuka asked, leaning a bit on the younger boy’s shoulder. “Yes, you would, you should call her before you get on the plane, later today.” “Thank you, Echizen.”  
  
He could feel Tezuka’s shoulder near his, and the old boy’s warmth spreading through his body from just that touch, but Ryoma still had one last doubt, one last question that he needed to ask before they had to get together with their team to watch the sunrise. He gathered his courage and asked. “Do you still love her?” Tezuka stared at his eyes, they were so close, Ryoma wished he could… “No, I don’t.” Came his Buchou answer, but before Ryoma could act on the wish he had, they heard Kikumaru calling them because the sun would rise soon.  


Atobe woke up feeling his entire body hurting, it was like he had passed the entire night sleeping on a bed of needles, he glanced at the side clock, 10 am, the shock from having overslept made him fall from his King sized bed directly face on the floor. The noise attracted his servants that were soon helping him stand. “Keigo-sama, do you feel better? We found you sleeping on the Tennis courts yesterday.” Atobe murmured something in agreement and dragged himself to the bathroom so he could take a bath to help himself wake up.  
  
When the water started falling and his sleepiness is going away with it, he started remembering his late night training and everything he had to do on this Sunday. Not counting his routine things, he needed to deliver Hyotei’s new schedule that Sakaki-sensei sent him yesterday to all the regulars and to Tatsu. He didn’t know why his Sensei did not send it directly to her but it was another opportunity for him to learn more about her and about her serve.   
  
As soon as he was done with his shower he left the bathroom,  picked up his cell phone and called Tatsu. She took some time to answer but soon Atobe heard her voice. “Hi.” “Good morning, Tatsu, it’s Atobe, I called to ask you where and when can I deliver the training schedule to you.” There was a long pause on the other side of the line so Atobe asked again: “Tatsu?” He heard a really sleepy voice on the other side of the line. “Hmmm, what? Schedule? Anh?” Atobe felt a bit bad for the girl that, clearly, had just woken up but still smiled to himself. “Yes, I need to deliver the training schedule to you, so where and when can I find you today, anh?” There was another pause on the line but before the boy could ask again he heard a loud shout. “Fuck. Shit, sorry I can’t say fuck to you, or shit. Just ignore it. But, damn, I am late. If you need to see me today I will be at the Tennis court on the east side of the center of Tokyo, playing Tennis with Yumiko. Have to go now I am really late.”  
  
Atobe passed some seconds staring blankly to the mirror in front of him, before he noticed that there was a big purple mark on the right side of his forehead from his meeting with the floor earlier.   
  
  
After her bath Tatsu went through the house searching the box that had her clean clothes at, she still did not manage to fix her stuff since she moved in. As soon as she found any jeans and shirt and put a clean practice outfit on her Tennis bag, she picked up everything and went to the garage. Her car had arrived yesterday, a black Audi A5 convertible, it was a used model but she did not mind, she left her garage and headed for the Tennis court Yumiko had told her about, yesterday.   
  
It was a quick ride, two days without a car had already made Tatsu miss hers, even now without all her family money having a car was one of the only big comforts she allowed herself to have. She arrived, closed the roof of her car and went upstairs to the court. It was pretty empty, she noticed some boys playing doubles but before she could say anything she heard Yumiko shouting her name.   
  
“Tatsu-chan, you actually came! I was already thinking about passing at your house.” The shouting attracted the attention of the boys that were playing doubles and they turned their way, one of them looked a lot like… “Yuuta?” The short brown haired boy turned to her . “Tatsu-chan! You are here! So cool! You need to come play a match with us, please! You cannot train only brother, since you returned to Japan.” Tatsu took a while to answer but the first thing the managed to say was: “Even Yuuta is taller than me now.”  
  
Soon the other boys approached and stopped the friendly reunion, soon they were introduced, the 3 other people playing with Yuuta were his St. Rudolph colleagues, Mizuki, Yanagisawa and Akazawa. They all seemed interested in the outside girl and after a few minutes they were playing doubles against her.   
  
  
Atobe had passed the last hour making his servants try to cover the purple mark that adorned his forehead, but unfortunately not even make up helped his case. In the end he accepted putting a band-aid on his marvelous self, all his servants said he still looked amazing even with the new intruder on his face, so he decided to go out already, heading to the place Tatsu would be training Tennis, without checking himself on the mirror. He arrived fast at the court, told his driver he would call when he wanted to go back.   
  
He climbed the stairs and as soon as he reached the top of the stairs he saw a Mizuki trying to convince his coach to train St. Rudolph’s Tennis team. “Mizuki! Tatsu is already Hyotei’s coach!” Atobe shouted while approached the group. “What? You are coaching Hyotei?” Yuuta asked. Tatsu answered while approaching Atobe “Yes I am, and hello Atobe… Why are you using a band-aid with little crowns on your forehead?” He tried his best to appear nonchalant about it. “Ore-sama had an incident this morning that hurt a bit my marvelous face.” Tatsu raised one of her eyebrows but did not ask anything else.   
  
  
While Atobe and Mizuki were deciding the next doubles to play, Tatsu picked up her phone that was ringing, without looking at the caller’s ID she answered: “Hello?” From the other side she heard Tezuka’s voice. “Tatsu, I called you because I need to apologize."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the pillar pair appears. Next one is coming soon.


	4. A Guilty Heart (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tatsu gets a phone call from her past. Tezuka goes to Germany. Atobe faces the new emotions inside of him.

Tezuka had been postponing that phone call for the entire morning, now he had only a couple of minutes before the check-in for his flight started. When he first heard Tatsu’s voice he just said what he needed to say, there was a silence on the line so he kept speaking. “I should not have blamed you for my feelings all those years ago, I should have let you do what you wanted to and not shoved my thoughts on you. I am sorry.” He heard the answer. “You don’t need to be.. sorry. I am alright with your hate.”

Tezuka corrected the older girl, before she could continue. “I don’t hate you. I never did. Also I have to apologize to you for not being present on that training, I already talked with Echizen about it earlier.” He heard the girl trying to start to talk again. “Tezuka… I deserve...” He interrupted her again, he knew that he did not have much time to make her understand. “No, Tatsu, you don’t, I had no right to blame you back then and I don’t blame you for anything now. I, with Echizen’s help, finally managed to do the right thing and talk about this with you, I hope we can talk to each other again after my return from Germany.”

There was another silence on the phone, his flight’s check in was starting, when he decided to not wait for an answer anymore, he heard. “Tezuka, I am coaching Hyotei!” For a second, he did not answer, he took that time to understand Tatsu was finally able to speak a single sentence to him without any apologies or pauses after that conversation 4 years ago, Tezuka may have had a slight smile, but no one saw it.  


Atobe was getting annoyed with the fact Mizuki wanted to team up with his coach, he simply had no right to even ask for that. During their discussion he heard Tatsu speaking to someone on phone nearby. “Tezuka, I am coaching Hyotei!” She said that sentence and stared blankly in front of herself, with the phone still being held by her right hand.

Tatsu got up from the bench she had been sitting and approached Atobe, when he noticed her presence she was already close, before he could say or do anything, he felt a sharp pain coming from his forehead and a second after, the girl was standing in front of him with his precious Band-Aid on her hand and saying: “I could apologize, but it was looking pretty ridiculous.”

“Ouch.” Was the first thing Atobe said, why did the girl completely change her attitude? Now it just seems she is teasing him. “Don’t look at me like that, just it looks better without the thing on the forehead, red is a nice color, even for a bump mark on the forehead.” There was a grim on the girl’s eyes when she was saying that, like she was challenging him to say anything contradicting it so he just said: “Nothing looks bad on my perfect face.” Tatsu just laughed. Yumiko was so surprised, she approached the younger girl. “Are you alright, Tatsu-chan?”

The answer came fast while she tried to hide her laughing face. “ Yes, I am fine, is just… Never mind. Hey, Atobe let’s go play a doubles match against this people.” The boy approached and did not look pleased. “What was never mind? Explain yourself! Why were you laughing from my awesome self?” Tatsu just walked to court without giving any explanation. “So, let’s play? Or you prefer to not join due to your… forehead lesion?”

During the rest of the day, every time Atobe looked at his new coach, she had a playful grin on her eyes, directed to him. At start it annoyed him, being laughed at, but after he noticed how Tatsu had fun during their doubles, he could feel without any words, how everything about her had changed just with 5 minutes on phone. He tried to ask her, time and time again, why looking at him like that, but she never gave a direct answer, Fuji’s sister said that specific grim reminded her of the Tatsu from 4 years ago, he asked her what did it mean on that time years ago. 

The answer he got was that 4 years ago, Tatsu had that grim when she found someone really interesting, and that was the biggest compliment someone like her could give you. When he heard that explanation, he felt pleased, the kind of pleased he normally felt after defeating a really strong opponent, but different. He still did not know just how different. 

After many matches and some commoner’s food, the day was almost over. Tatsu and him won every single match, but Atobe had so much fun during them he even ignored his other duties for that Sunday, and just kept playing. When everybody was leaving, and he was going in the direction of the car that had came to pick him up, he felt the girl’s gaze fall on him again, she seemed to start a sentence but decided to not say anything. Atobe entered the car with a smile on his face.  


Tatsu entered her car some time ago but still had not left the parking spot, everybody else was already gone but she was still there processing her thoughts. She had been so startled by Tezuka’s phone call, when he said he did not hate her it was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, like a part of the guilt that had been eating her alive was lifted because he did not hate her, they maybe could even talk again. She laughed to herself, it was amazing that even someone like her could still have a happy day.

“The me form 4 years ago would have given the little crown Band-Aid boy a ride home!” She exclaimed to herself while still laughing a bit and turning on the car. But, unfortunately, she was not the same person, maybe the old Tatsu was still somewhere inside of her and that day had been the first one in which she showed herself. The brutally honest and teasing Tatsu. Maybe she still existed somewhere. With that in mind she arrived home. 

The girl decided to finally take all her things from the boxes and start setting up her house, she may have felt a bit bad while setting up her computer thinking that with e-mail she would not need Atobe himself to deliver schedules to her. But she locked that thought inside the new curtain that had appeared on her brain, it was closed tight with a sign saying: He is only fourteen. When she finished the setting up it was already past 8, Tatsu picked up her phone to call any good fast food delivery place nearby, but when she was typing the number, her phone rang and on a whim, she answered, without checking the caller. 

“Hello, Tatsu speaking” She left some of her high spirits pass onto her voice, not answering on the monotone she was used to speak with. She heard a laugh, a familiar laugh that had visited her in most of the nightmares. When the voice started to talk, Tatsu was already shaking, leaning on the wall, she hated how a simple voice could make her feel so bad. “Someone like you, should not be allowed to enjoy life like your voice shows that you are enjoying, Miss Fujiwara.”

Her body slid to the floor, she wished she could just turn off the phone but even the strength to do that had left her body, the voice kept talking. “No answer, I see you are still a coward like always, little girl. You can guess the motive for my call, my information sources reported that you had returned to Japan, so I had to get in contact to guarantee you were not planning anything.” Every word that executive spoke made her shake more, the memories from that day on the hospital were threatening to return to her head. “Oh, such a scared kitty you are. Devil? Haha. The nickname does not fit you. Or maybe it does, since you are someone that is directly responsible to your…

And then all the memories returned, the pain was so high it could not even compare to her usual physical pain. The voice continued. “Oh, I forgot that was a touchy subject. Haha. Yes, I guessed you would never try to do anything to go against me. I have been having some problems to take full control of the company, though. Those influential friends that your parents had are giving me a hard time. But you don’t care do you? Since you do not deserve any of the assets. The house you now live in and the apartment in Berlin, you do not deserve those either, but I didn’t manage to take those for myself since, unfortunately, they were directly in your name .” There was a brief pause on the line. “You still can’t answer. Great. Are you feeling pain? You should be. You deserve to be in pain. Since the pain you feel it is nothing compared to what they suffered because of you. Specially your little brother. How can you live with yourself knowing you ruined his happy family life, Miss Fujiwara? Huhu. As always, it was an utter pleasure speaking with you, Miss.”

The call was off, but Tatsu was not present on this world anymore. All the executive’s words just kept reverberating through her head with flashes from her memories. Blood. A lot of blood. Pain. A reporter approached, gave her a news she would never expect she would hear. Tezuka shouting. Pleading her to stop. More pain. Excruciating pain. More blood. A hospital bed. That executive talking. Headache. The nurses trying to enter in the room but door was locked. His words. More pain. Her brother gets in her line of vision. He breaks her. Pain. More pain. Morphine. A rainy graveyard. Tezuka speaking. A bet and a promise. 

Tatsu only managed to leave her memories when the phone in her hand rang again, this time to announce it was already 5 am and she had to get ready to go coach Hyotei. She dragged her body to the bathroom and entered the shower still with all her clothes on. During it, she recomposed herself a bit but the shaking on her hands still had not stop, she got dressed and picked up her Tennis bag. She tried to turn on the car at least four times, on the fifth it worked. When she reached the school, her hands had stopped shaking.  


Atobe had an amazing morning, the mark on his forehead was almost disappearing, he had a feeling that during the night he had a pleasant dream, he had managed to rush all his activities so he could reach the courts before the second part of the morning training had started so he could see how his coach. No, his team. Yes, so he could see how his entire team was doing.

The first thing he saw was all the non-regular members doing physical training, they greeted him with a slight bow, then he moved on to see how the regulars were doing. The first he saw was Oshitari that seemed to be practicing a different drop shot while Hiyoshi, playing against him, seemed to be doing his best to make all the older boy’s tries fail. On the next court there was Jirou and Mukahi each of them facing a different wall looking like they were trying to come up with a way to change their main moves. Atobe was a bit impressed that Jirou was not sleeping, but actually practicing. 

The four boys greeted him and he moved to the next court. Ootori was on the serving spot, with new shoes and a new racket, serving against Kabaji, that was using a posture really similar to the one Tatsu had used to return that same serve two days ago. Shishido was nearby practicing split steps between two orange cones, he seemed to be doing that for a long time already. He said a quick: nice job, Kabaji, when his friend almost managed to return Ootori’s serve, and when to the next court in which he could hear Tatsu and Haginosuke. 

“Ojou-san, you are sure you feel alright? You seem so pale today.” His teammate asked getting a short. “Yes, just go back to practice that positioning I told you about.” Atobe approached them but before he could give any greeting he saw Tatsu’s face. It was like she had not slept for weeks, she had huge bags under her eyes and her skin was completely pale. The light he had seen on her eyes before, had simply disappeared. He approached her to ask something, but the look she gave him stopped him. It was like the girl he had seen yesterday was just not there anymore, he felt a slight sadness on his chest. 

“Atobe, I changed your warm up schedule a bit. Also I added some activities that do not compromise your right arm too much, check it and see if you have any problems.” Tatsu sad that with the blankest expression he had ever seen, so he approached and asked. “What happened, Tatsu?” She answered, already turning around from him and going to the other court. “Nothing. There is no problem with me. This is who I am.”

He tried his best to focus on the warming up and on the practice that followed but just the differences between the Tatsu from yesterday that was laughing and enjoying herself and this blank zombie in front of him were enough to distract him. When he was finishing his warming up exercises his new coach approached him again. “Atobe, show me the serve you are practicing.” “Serve? Look at you you are so pale you seem like you will pass out at anytime, it’s like the same girl that played tennis with me yesterday is not even there anymore.” Atobe answered while getting up.

He felt the girl’s eyes twitch for a second but instead of saying anything about his accusations she just answered. “Show me the serve you are trying to come up with, so I can see which type of practice I should pass to you.” Atobe held the girl by her arm, but before he could tell his opinions like he had done 2 days ago, the girl’s face turned into a desperate expression, much like a scared animal, so he let go of her arm, to see her flinch back and re assume her blank expression. 

He was in lost of words, somehow he always lost his words near that girl, so she was the first to break the silence. “Show me the serve, please.” “It is not ready yet, and it is my most marvelous serve, I won’t show it on a public space, it was made to beat Tezuka.” Atobe answered. Tatsu seemed to think for a few seconds. “Tell me the court and the time, for the secluded location and I will help you develop that serve. It does not matter my physical or mental condition, I am here to make this team win the national’s against Seigaku. And it is my job to guarantee that it happens.”

All the regulars adapted fast to the new type of training, that was more focused on individual abilities specially Jirou and Mukahi, it was like they had renewed energy for training due to the new coach. Jirou had mastered so many new net plays in 4 days that everybody was impressed, Mukahi changed all his acrobatic plays to low energy consuming ones Tatsu also passed him new distraction tactics that were more mental than physical, he was having a hard time to master those but it also was a big improvement. 

Shishido and Ootori had been playing doubles against Tatsu daily and that was doing wonders for their synchronization, Ootori’s serve was so difficult to catch now that Atobe himself had problems with it. Oshitari had been hesitant at first, but on that first day of training their new coach played a single’s match against him, he got thoroughly defeated and it made him double his efforts on everything on practice, specially the new drop shots. 

Atobe and Kabaji seemed the only ones affected by Tatsu’s focused zombie way of dealing with everything. They were still improving a lot though, Kabaji was being taught ways to use his stronger shots without directly damaging his arms and soon the coach had to double her efforts to return any of his strong shots. Atobe had been playing a single’s match against Tatsu every day, she would normally stop the match to correct some stuff on his posture or to pass him different techniques to use for those situations. But they did not play anymore double’s matches together. 

After Thursday's practice, while Atobe was on the car going home, Kabaji came to talk with him. His childhood friend seemed to be thoughtful the entire week and he finally asked what he had been pondering about . “Why do you think… That she acts like that?” Atobe did not need any explanation on who Kabaji was talking about. “I am not sure, I saw her on Sunday and she was completely different, now it just seems she is trying to keep the maximum distance possible from everybody on the team. She is doing her job as a coach well enough, but still, she is doing it as a chore and that annoys me. What do you think, Kabaji?” The younger boy took a while to answer but when he did, Atobe, admired his friend’s abilities to see others’ feelings. “ I think… Something happened to make her like that. Even on Saturday she looked like she had more life. Also… Her look. With that look it seems like she is completely alone. I feel sad just looking at her eyes.”

  
Ryoma left his normal training on Seigaku and went with Fuji to Tatsu’s house to practice in the underground courts she have there. On Monday, the actual first day of the extra practice, Sumire-san and the other regulars went with them to the public court they would be using, Fuji warned that it would not be a smart idea, but they still did it.

When Tatsu arrived and saw all those people near the court she did not make any move to leave, just completely ignored all of them, specially Sumire-san and proceeded with the practice. On the end of it Ryoma approached her, intending to talk about Tezuka but before he could speak the girl told him to not be concerned about it anymore since it was already solved. Fuji and himself did not seem much convinced on it because the girl was with an appearance even gloomier than she had been on the previous week. 

The training was difficult, Ryoma felt like he was training with someone that was as good as his father but that actually had will to teach. With all of this he would be able to beat Sanada for sure. Arriving home Echizen wrote a mail to Tezuka telling him about his day, it had become a routine for him after he saw the mail from his Buchou on the first day after the flight to Germany, somehow knowing he was the only one in Seigaku Tezuka had been contacting made the younger boy even more eager to write. 

Also Ryoma did not have any more problems with Tatsu, after hearing what Tezuka had to say for her, he stopped the baseless hating but somehow the feeling of envy toward her, for being someone that Tezuka used to harbor affections for, was growing day by day and beating her soon turned into more of an objective to him, than actually winning the Kanto Tournament. She was his new challenge, being better than her, he would keep telling himself it was only his Tennis player’s pride and not him wanting to show Tezuka that he would be a better object for his affections. 

  
The Friday morning practice had been canceled today, the second and third year’s would have a field trip. Tatsu felt truly bad about that, training those boys helped her distract her mind from everything, so on that morning she was just practicing at home, with her sound system turned on the latest volume. This solo practices never helped her much, specially when her mental state was how it has been for the previous days, the self hate she had for being so weak to be broken by a simple phone call was the worst part.

The worried looks she was receiving also from Syusuke, from Tarou, from Atobe and from Kabaji had been weighing on her brain, more good people dragged on her personal hell because of only a few days of contact, she needed to keep up the no emotions facade so, at least the two Hyotei boys, would see her as only an asset to help them win the nationals. And if they win, she would have won the bet she made against Tezuka. He did not seem preoccupied with it when they spoke, but she had guessed even his brain was blocking some of the memories from that day on the Graveyard. 

Tatsu saw her phone lightning up, near the courts, and went to check, there were 3 missed calls from Tarou, she pondered for a bit but ended up calling him back. He picked the call so fast he should have been holding his phone in the moment. “Good Tatsu, you picked up, I need your help with… What is this disgusting music on the background? ” She answered while lowering the music volume. “Now I can hear you, what do you need? Didn’t I have a free morning today?” There was a pause and then a short answer from her old teacher. “We had some issues with the monitors for the field trip today, we will need two monitors for each group, since it’s an area you have knowledge into, I need your help.” The girl did not process it for a second. Tarou wanted her to monitor some students on a field trip? What? Before she could answer, her old friend started speaking again. “Dress up in something a bit formal, I will pass in your place to pick you up in 20 minutes.” And he turned off the phone.”

“We are taking a detour on the way to pick up the last monitor” Sakaki-sensei had said a few minutes before so the bus that was taking third years A and B approached a residential area and they started hearing some loud music when the bus stopped. Their Sensei had an annoyed expression for a second when he heard the music, it was some kind of Heavy Metal sang on a different language, but soon the song had stopped and someone else was entering their bus. “How can you think listening to something as awful as that?” Sakaki asked to the person that was entering the bus. “That’s why I listen to it, so I don’t have to think.”

Atobe and Haginosuke saw that their coach, Tatsu, was going to be the monitor of their group today. With the clothes she was wearing she could easily pass for an executive, despite the young age, long office skirt and a red long sleeve social shirt, combined with medium heels. Taki shouted to get the girl’s attention. “Tatsu-san! How cool you will be one of our monitors today!” The girl only answered with a nod, before turning to Sakaki while the bus started to move again and asked: “Field trip to where?” The teacher set on his spot to make space for the girl to sit beside him while answered: “I thought I mentioned it with you, it’s an art museum, we had some issues with the local monitors earlier so we had to send more school staff, and since you know about classical art, you were the easiest choice. Of course if your horrendous musical taste did not kill any of your memory cells.”

The girl was surprised for a second but soon just set down near her old friend without speaking a word.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next one coming soon.


	5. A memory inside a painting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of Tatsu's past is revealed. The training for a new serve. Atobe's mother appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for delay on this one, I, honestly, forgot to post it yesterday.

_Chapter 5_ _:_ **_A memory inside a painting._ **

The girls from the Hyotei third year had tried their best to intimidate Tatsu with looks, but she had just assumed the professional pose she normally used to coach the Tennis team. When they entered the Art exposition it was clear the looks she was receiving, this professional dressed beautiful Tatsu attracted too much attention. Atobe felt some mild annoyance at start but then the girl’s laugh to him on the previous Sunday came to his mind, and his annoyance evaporated. He did not care if they stared at this blank face Tatsu, because he was sure his actual coach was the teasing girl that played with him on that day.

It was an exposition of Japanese artists using a renaissance style, Atobe knew enough about the style itself but he did not recognize any of this pieces. Entering the first area of the exposition they approached some religious figures paintings, Sakaki-sensei started explaining about the history of the period these techniques were developed but Tatsu seemed to just approach and observe the painting in front of them. When their teacher stopped speaking for a second, she started.

“The technique on this one is called **chiaroscuro** , you probably know how it is made, accentuating the lighter and the darker sides of the pictures. But when seeing something like this the first thing it passes you is the depth and the 3 dimensionality, the religious theme in most of the paintings from this style makes the opposition between light and darkness even bigger.” “Chiaroscuro is making a strong contrast between dark and light, comes from the italian “chiaro” or light and “oscuro” or dark.” Atobe complemented after he saw how a single painting got so much of the older girl’s attention.

The field-trip continued like this, Sakaki-sensei giving an historical set up and Tatsu giving her insight about the artistic characteristics of each piece, it was like she had really invested a big part of her life learning about art something that somehow did not fit her persona, at least, what Atobe thought of her persona.

When they sit down on the restaurant to wait for lunch, Haginosuke approached Tatsu. “Whoa, Tatsu-san, you do not seem like someone that is this interested in arts.” “It is because I am not interested in it.” She answered without changing her face’s expression. The boy seemed a bit confused with the answer so he questioned her again . “But if you are not that interested, why do you know so much about it?” The girl sighed and seemed to be looking to somewhere far away when she finally answered. “My mother was a painter, that is how I know so much.”

Haginosuke did not notice the gloom present on Tatsu’s look and kept asking. “A painter? Does she have any famous works? That is so cool, Tatsu-san! Why does your mother don’t paint anymore?” After he finished asking that question Sakaki choked on the water glass he was drinking and Atobe kept attentively looking at the girl’s reactions. She still had her eyes locked in somewhere else when she answered: “Because she is dead.” The smile disappeared from Taki’s face and Sakaki took a glimpse of Tatsu’s expression from the other side of the table.

The weird part, for Atobe, is that there was not any pain or hurt being shown on her face, she had just stated something like that without any hesitation. Like she had distanced herself so much from the fact, or she had passed so much time with the expressionless face that it did not hurt her anymore talking about it. At least he thought it at start. A few minutes after, when they were all eating he could clearly see the girl with a sad look and trembling slightly when she left the table.

Haginosuke passed a long time after that without knowing what to say, but after the break, their art class continued and Tatsu did not seem to be caring much. They approached the new artists works and since they had already grasped enough about the style, Sakaki told them to go around and choose a painting to make a full work about.

Atobe saw, from the corner of his eye, Tatsu going to an isolated area seeming really impressed with something. When he reached it he saw a large painting on a wall, it was picturing a beautiful garden with a single black flower on the front, getting closer he heard the girl speaking, while staring directly at the picture. “I can’t believe one of her works are here, it’s been so long I had not seen this.” The girl had such a surprised expression that soon turned into a sad smile, Atobe had to make sure he had heard right. “Is it your mother’s work?” Tatsu seemed really startled when he talked with her, but the feeling from the painting was affecting her and she answered, still with the sad smile on her face. “Yes. I did not know this one was here. It has been almost 5 years I have not seen this painting.”

The woman in front of him, combined with that picture was the most beautiful sight Atobe had ever had, the melancholy feeling coming from that view made him want to get closer to Tatsu and extinguish any reasons for that sadness on her smile. She did not see him staring and just continued speaking about the painting. “ The background of this painting was a place in the garden that we had at home, just this black orchid it was something from my mother’s imagination.” Still looking more at the girl than at the painting, Atobe answered: “It is a beautiful image.”

The other students found them, and the moment that was present there was lost. When they left the room, Atobe could see Tatsu taking a last glance at the black orchid in the painting.

The return to the school was quick, but Atobe could not forget the image he had saw. Even Tatsu herself seemed to not be so much expressionless, but instead she had a gloomy air around her. When they arrived, the girl went straight for the Tennis courts, he passed on his class and then went down for the practice also. Upon arrival at the dressing room, Shishido went to talk with him. “Atobe, can you play a doubles against us today?” Ootori was standing just behind him with a hopeful look. “Anh? Me playing doubles?” Atobe answered, while putting his Tennis uniform. “Yes, you and Tatsu. Since you two played doubles before.” “Hn, you two should ask her for that, and not me.” He retorted, he was still not over all the emptiness Tatsu had treated him with through that week, even after the scene on the museum. “I will, then.” Shishido said, while leaving the room, Ootori soon followed his doubles partner after giving Atobe a quick greeting.

In the end Atobe played another doubles match with that strange girl. It started very different, it was not like the first match they played, in which she had let him control the game, also it was not like the games they played against St. Rudolph, on those they had just developed some kind of teamwork while enjoying the game to it’s fullest. On today’s game, though, there was no coordination between them at start, it was like Atobe’s contradicting feelings during the week were being transferred to the game.

It did not help that Shishido and Ootori were a specialized doubles pair, what made Atobe and Tatsu’s lack of teamwork seem even more visible, after losing two points in a row, the girl came to speak with him. “I know you don’t want me to play this as a single’s game. We need to find a common ground or we will lose.” He could not contain himself and said what he had been thinking during the week. “A common ground? There is no way to find anyway to play together with you, if you keep treating everybody here without any emotions like you have been doing it is impossible to be your doubles partner or for you to be part of the team! Drop that act and simply play with me like you played on Sunday!” She did not answer him at start, soon, though, her face changed to an understanding expression. “I wish I could be an actual part of the team but, right now, I am not able to. I have to apologize if I did not express myself alright during this week, I will try to improve and not be affected by outside things like I am.”

She looked truly sorry, and not just that, Atobe felt she looked like someone carrying the world on her shoulders. From that point on, they regained their synchronization and managed to win the game, during it Atobe could catch glimpses of her emotions due to the partnership, how she would almost smile when they made a nice play together and the trustful look she gave him when he went to return something. He asked himself if she could feel the same about him. After the match, their opponents left the court but before Tatsu could leave, to go watch someone else’s training, he called out to her.

“Oya, Tatsu, since you wanted to help me develop the new server. You can… Anh… join me on my training tomorrow, on my family’s gymnasium!” Atobe wished his hesitation had not passed to his speech. Tatsu seemed surprised and hesitated a bit while answering. “I cannot...” He felt something tighten on his chest and was ready to leave when the girl continued. “I can’t tomorrow. Can it be on Sunday?” He could not contain a laugh. “Heh, yes. On Sunday, then.”

  
Tatsu ended up running home on that day, she walked until she was far enough from the school and then ran the rest of the way. She opened the door as fast as she could and dropped her jacket somewhere in the floor. She kept asking herself why did she agree with that, when she seen Atobe’s face after she gave him her first answer she just felt so bad with herself that she had to change. Somehow that boy she had met for one week already managed to make her do things she should not.

She had lied, she did not have anything to do on the following day, but she had promised herself to not involve anyone else on her personal hell, but it did not matter how much she tried to just appear emotionless, Atobe kept trying to interact. Tatsu held a laugh when she remembered that she got lectured by him twice. She got lectured. Twice. By someone more than 5 years younger than herself. She could just think how hopeless and pitiful she was. She wish she could have the confidence she used to.

Tatsu dragged her body upstairs and fell on the bed, she slept almost instantly, a thing she had not done for the entire week. She dreamed that night, not the usual nightmares that stopped her from sleeping, but a pleasant dream, one in which she was playing a Tennis match but without any pain, she won in the end and as a prize she received a note with a black orchid attached to it, she could not read the contents of the note but the signature was clearly written: Atobe.

She woke up on the next day feeling her entire body hurting, Tatsu picked up her phone from the bedside table, it was 4 pm, she had slept the entire day and there were 5 missed calls. She set on the bed and went to check the missed calls, 3 from Yumiko, probably trying to make her leave the house and two from Atobe, the dream she had passed through her mind but she dismissed it fast. He must be wanting to confirm the meeting point and time for tomorrow. She got up and wash her face, it had been years she haven’t slept that much without any nightmares to wake her up, after she was awaken enough she returned his call.

  
Atobe had been annoyed most of the day, his mother noticed it briefly, but he told her it was Tennis related problems, technically it was. But deeply his concerns were the reason Tatsu had not answered his 2 calls, all the possibilities passed in his head from she did not want to come practice with him, to she had died. When he was planning to call Sakaki-sensei to ask him if his coach was alright, he received her call.

“Apologies for not having returned earlier, I was.. sleeping.” Atobe had to hold a laugh on his side of the line. “ Anh? Sleeping until 4pm? At least you won’t have that empty zombie face tomorrow.” He could not resist to mention that again to the girl, specially because she had the audacity to not answer two of his phone calls. “I am pretty sure I can assume the zombie face, but anyway, which time should I be there and pass me the address, please”. She went straight to the point, Atobe smiled on his side and started to pass her the directions of his house and the time they would meet, she ended the phone call as soon as he finished talking. He murmured to himself afterward: “Hn, bad mood when waking up, I see.”

“Who has bad mood when waking up, Keigo?” His mother had appeared from the outside corridor and had been listening some part of his conversation. “The friend that comes to practice tomorrow, mother.” He tried to be as vague as he could, to not pique his mother’s curiosity. “Hn, and that friend calling made your mood improve, dear Keigo?” Ms. Valentine Atobe was always like this, and her only son knew it so he gave another vague answer and left the room. “Yes, mother, the Tennis related problems were solved.”

  
Next day at 9 am, Tatsu was driving to the address Atobe had given her, she reached a remote area of the city, with a beautiful green vegetation on both sides of the road. When she arrived on the gate she had an amazed gaze on her face, she knew Atobe’s family was rich but she did not imagine they were that rich. Beyond the gate there was a road with a huge mansion on the end of it, Tatsu should have expected that the Atobe Gym, the boy mentioned, was on his house. She held a sigh and tried to convince her brain that there was no problem in going to the younger boy’s house. Her previous experiences on going to guy’s house always had ended, and started, with the same objective.

When Tatsu was erasing the awful thoughts from her head, a security guard approached her car and started to question her. “Miss, apologies, but you cannot park here, this is a private area.” The security guard was staring directly at her, she took of her sunglasses and said: “I am not here for parking, I have a Tennis practice with Atobe… -san.” For a second she had almost forgotten the Japanese manners of adding name terminations. That did not escape the security guard hearing, and he gave a suspicion look to her, turned around without giving an answer and called someone on the radio, from a distance that did not allow her to hear what was being spoken.

While the guard was radioing, probably his boss, Tatsu was trying to remember the social manners she should have learned all those years ago, she should have wore better clothes and not her normal jeans and shirt. She took a glance at the security guard and he had finished his first call on radio, stared at her and decided to do a confirmation call taking the radio out again. The girl held another sigh, took out her phone and called Atobe, he picked up on the spot . “Atobe, can you like… tell the security guard to… let me in?” She heard him shouting at someone on the other side of the line, so she turned off the call, less than 20 seconds later the first security guard, and two others were walking to her car.

“Deep apologies Miss, we did not know you were a personal friend of Atobe-sama.” The three security guards bowed to her, while opening the gate. Tatsu drove to the entrance of the main building of the mansion where a chauffeur waited for her car keys, she hesitated a bit to deliver her lovely car to an unknown driver, but she delivered and keys and picked up the Tennis Bag that was on the back seat. When she turned, Atobe was there to greet her.

Atobe decided to go greet Tatsu himself, even if it was the unconventional thing to do, when he passed the front door, he could see her with a lighter expression than she had had during the week, also the bags under her eyes had disappeared. He approached to greet her. “Welcome, apologies for the entrance issues, there was an increase on the security on the past month.” She picked up her Tennis bag and turned to him. “Not a problem, so let’s go practice?” “Hn, sure, the butler will take your bag, follow me for the Tennis courts”. She arched her eyebrows a bit while giving her bag to my butler but did not say anything else. Atobe was slightly pleased that she looked better today, maybe the practice would not be as annoying for him as the weekly practices were.

While they were walking through the gardens to arrive at the courts, Tatsu did not make any comment, she seemed to be more used to this kind of places than any other friends Atobe had invited before. He had tried through the entire morning to not think about the fact it was the first time he had invited a girl to his house, but that small piece of information was still hanging on the back of his brain. They arrived in the courts and started practicing soon enough.

Hyotei’s captain went to the court and showed the girl his serve, he throws the ball up focus his sight and hit it, the server went out of the court but the amazing part was that the ball did not quick on the floor, it just touched the floor and kept on his way really close to it. It would be an unbeatable serve if he could master it. After one serve, though, Atobe’s arm was already hurting. Tatsu got close to him and started speaking. “It’s an impressive serve, if completed.” “Hn, I know, it’s called Tannhauser Serve.”

Tatsu looked impressed, the same look she had on prior Sunday, for a second Atobe thought Sunday was his favorite day of the week. “How many times can you try that serve before the pain gets too much? And do you feel it only on your arm or across your back, also?” She asked. “Around 20 times in a row and only arm pain.” She seemed to consider his answer and asked him to repeat the serve. He did it and the ball passed even further from the court line, that was always what happened, from every time he re tried the serve just got even less accurate. He got a bit annoyed and stared at the girl waiting for a comment.

She just stood by his side on court, picked up a ball and tried to execute his Tannhauser serve. Her try went further away from the court line then each of his. Atobe smiled and said: “I see not even you can do this serve.” She stared at her right arm while opening and closing her fingers, and answered him. “I would never be able to do that serve normally, I simply do not have your reach, but I think it is a possible serve, will have to try with the percentages, though.” Tatsu looked really calm while saying that. “Of course it’s possible. Can’t you see I am so close to mastering it? Are you going to hurt your arm to do it?” He asked, looking more annoyed.

“No I won’t hurt my arm. There is no permanent damage to be done using my technique like I am using right now. I will see how much I need to increase my muscles strength and elasticity to perfect your serve and then we will discover direct trainings to make you reach that point. This is how I helped Tezuka and Fuji develop all their signature moves.” Atobe was not convinced about her no damage explanation but let her continue. Tatsu took a few seconds examining her arm and went for a second try. The serve went way better than the first one basically on the same level Atobe’s first try was. She let out a sigh and whispered the sentence Atobe had heard once. “ **Schmerz ist eine Illusion.”** And did her third try. There was pain on her face but it landed inside the court, but really close to the line, everything else about the serve was perfect, it stayed less than a millimeter from the floor when it passed.

Atobe was amazed, she had manage to complete his serve, but when he thought she would stop on that try, she went once more. The pain that had been on her face disappeared. His serve, his Tannhauser went perfectly, it was the fastest serve he had seen, probably faster than Ootori’s scud serve, he could not even see the distance the ball passed from the floor. He wanted to make the serve reach that point, it would be completely impossible to return, on his mind.

Tatsu turned her back to him, when he went to ask why, he saw some of the bandages she used on the floor. “That is the perfect serve, just don’t look to this side. You don’t deserve to see how disgusting my arm is.” The girl said that while picked up the bandages from the floor, Atobe could not see much but he catch a glimpse of a lot of red, but her face did not show any pain so he asked about it. “I can suppose you used a higher percentage than you had used on the practice match at school, so why don’t you show any pain?” She turned back to him, having finished putting back her bandages. “There is a point that the human body just cancel the mental pulses that should make you feel pain, that is how very injured people do impressive things. I just did that kind of effect localized on my right arm, I can do it for localized parts so I stop feeling it during the game. But, of course, I also stop feeling anything else on this part, like touch.”

She sat down in front of him on the court while finished that explanation. “That also means you will feel the entire localized pain after wards.” Atobe added the last part that she, on purpose, had left out of the explanation. “Yeah, I will feel it… now.” She held her right arm with her left hand and squeezed it, her face twitched in pain for a couple of seconds, but it subsided before Atobe could do anything. The girl soon got up and started talking, like nothing had happened. “ Good, now we know exactly how much you need to improve your arm and back muscles to complete this serve, lets start with the localized exercises I will join you on them.” “Hn, somehow you being so used to feel pain pisses me off.” Atobe could not contain his annoyed comment. Tatsu seemed surprised for a second but turned around to pick up a notebook and a pen from her Tennis bag. She whispered in a low voice, but he heard it. “Physical pain is nothing compared to emotional pain.”

They kept practicing for hours, Tatsu came up with a battery of exercises only for that serve, there were push ups, hanging on bars and serve sessions. After all of that both of them were exhausted, Atobe was laying in the middle of the court and Tatsu was set on the floor, leaned on the net. She was the first to speak. “Lets take a two hour break.” He didn’t even turn his face or open his eyes to answer. “No, let’s... practice... more...” He felt a bump on his leg and opened his eyes, Tatsu was standing up next to him, extending her arm, waiting for him to reach, so she could help him get up. He did so and the older girl helped him stand, their eyes locked for a second what made both of them blush, when they were letting go of the other hand they heard a loud sound and a voice coming from the court’s entrance. “Is that you, Giselle?”

Ms. Valentine Atobe, his mother, was standing, she seemed to have bumped into one of the butlers that spilled something on the floor. Tatsu was really surprised and quickly moved away from him. His mother approached them still staring directly at Tatsu. “I am sorry you just look so much like Giselle, I didn’t imagine I would see my old friend’s daughter practicing Tennis with my son. Your name is Fujiwara Tatsu-chan isn’t it?” Atobe was stunned, how did they know each other? Tatsu still had given no answer so he directed the next question to his mother. “You two, know each other?” His mother gave him her teasing smile and answered. “I didn’t know Tatsu-chan but her parents were old friends of the family, and her mother was a personal friend of mine, so I just confused them because she looks too much like Giselle.”

Tatsu finally answered. “Nice to meet you, Miss Atobe. But I do not look like my mother, at all.” The gloom air Atobe had seen two days ago seemed to surround the girl every time she talked about her past. His mother kept talking ignoring everything else. “Anyway, Tatsu-chan I have to apologize, my dearest son did not remind you of lunch and now it is already afternoon tea time, I insist you join us for tea and for dinner, my dear husband was a huge friend of your father, Akihito...” She kept talking but Tatsu interrupted her mid sentence. “I am here to practice Tennis but thanks a lot for the invitation.” Atobe knew his mother enough, and she would not give up on it. Before he tried to convince the older girl to accept at least one of his mother’s invitations, Ms. Atobe had already pulled Tatsu by her arm and was dragging her to the afternoon coffee area.

From Atobe’s perspective the tea break was really distinct, his mother kept telling stories about her past with Tatsu’s mother and asking the older girl questions, but she almost always managed to answer on an unclear way or to simply avoid to answer completely. It was clear how uncomfortable she was with the questions, but his mother just kept asking them and Atobe was way too curious about that girl and a bit resentful because she had not told him about this connection she had with his family. After some time his mother got a phone call and had to excuse herself from the table.

As soon as Ms. Atobe got up, Tatsu let out a sigh and dropped the posture she was having. Atobe asked, while staring directly to the girl in front of him. “Hn, you knew our families were connected. Why didn’t you say anything, anh?” The irritation was clear on his voice. She broke the eye contact and looked at the garden besides them, while she answered. “From the moment you spoke your name I knew I may have had connections with your family, but it is not a very nice introduction to say, hello, well in the past your rich parents may have been friends with my rich family but now my parents are dead so I am out of that social circle, nice to meet you.” The hurt and bitterness appeared on every single word she said, but her eyes did not show any anger towards him, they just showed sadness while she looked at the garden. That made him switch the subject quickly. “Let’s go back to practice.”

The next hours of practice were done in almost complete silence, around 7 pm Tatsu mentioned she would put her usual clothes and go home. Atobe decided to accompany her to her car and he dismissed the butlers. Now the tension between them was higher than it had been on the start of the day. He knew he had put her on this position of having to talk about her past, when they were arriving at her car he decided to apologize but Tatsu started speaking first. “Hey, Atobe...” She turned around and stared directly at him, while leaned on her car’s back. “Hn, what?” His will to say sorry disappeared now that the girl had started a conversation.

She seemed hesitant, but continued speaking, while keeping her eyes locked on his. “Hmmm… I am… not used to talking much about anything besides Tennis, specially if that subject is my past. It has been quite some time I don’t have to do anything like this. Damn, like the old me would never say anything like this. So I have to apologize, also please apologize to your mother for me because I am not even remotely similar to her old friend.” “Idiot! You don’t apologize for that! As long as you are not that expressionless zombie everybody's fine! Not everyone can be like myself and exceed also on social contacts!”

For a minute the girl only stared at him, but then her warm smile appeared, that smile made him avert his look for a second so she could not see the blush on his face. She entered in the car, but told him a last sentence before she went home: “Atobe, you are an amazing guy, I wish I could have met you when I was a better person”.


	6. A word of Kindness and she breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her scars appear, rain and a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Title extracted from the song “Linoleum” by Pain of Salvation)

#### Chapter 6: “A word of kindness and she breaks...” 

The next week of practice went way better then the first one, on the next Monday they would have the first of the tournaments that could give the spot for the nationals. Defeat was not a possibility. They would need to go in an executive bus on Sunday night and arrive for the game on Monday morning, one loss could mean they had lost their second chance for the nationals. Everybody was practicing twice as hard, except for one person.

Atobe was training three times his normal schedule, for anyone seeing that from outside it would look like just the captain training for his club but the truth was far from it. He needed to fill the entire time of his day so he did not think about the last Sunday, what Tatsu had told him and what he discovered after, while having dinner with his parents. Just her name passing on his head already made him imagine the girl the way she smiled at him and the way she played Tennis.

That line of thinking passed through his head and on the end of it it was always that sentence: **“Atobe, you are an amazing guy I wish I could have met you when I was a better person.”** And the fact that he could only hear a rejection coming from that phrase. The Monday after that sentence he was so irritated that he could not focus on anything, he passed the entire day taking glances at his coach and when he could not see her he would just remember how him, Atobe Keigo, got rejected. After the afternoon practice of that Monday he was so stressed out that Kabaji came to speak with him on the car back to his house.

 

“Atobe-san...” Kabaji did not even had to finish his sentence before Atobe started speaking up all his frustration. “I learned Tatsu’s past, and she rejected me. Not on that order, but she rejected me!” After shouting that first sentence he took a breath and started explaining to his childhood friend what happened on that Sunday afternoon. “… then she said she should have met me when she was a better person! That is a rejection for the feelings I didn’t even had for her.” Kabaji did not have to say anything for Atobe to know that his friend knew he had feelings for the girl. “Anyway, about her past, her parents are dead, they got kidnapped on the day she was playing the finals of the National Tennis tournament and due to a cross-fire between the kidnappers and the police, her parents died. My father did not explain this part clearly but it seems that Tatsu was hospitalized for two weeks after that and during those two weeks her family’s company was sold to someone else and that her brother went to live with distant relatives. Sakaki and my parents tried to help her using the law to get her properties back but she was against every single action and without her support they cannot do anything. But the important part of all of this is that the sentence she said, means a rejection, doesn’t it?”

When Atobe looked at his friend’s face and for the first time in years he saw tears on Kabaji’s eyes. The taller boy quickly dried his tears and began speaking with his friend. “The sentence she told you, it was not a rejection...” “What do you mean? Of course it is a rejection! It sounds like one.” The rich boy complained but his friend continued his sentence calmly. “This is why that girl looks so sad and lonely sometimes, she hates herself… She hates herself so much because she feels responsible for her parents murder. So, no Atobe-san, it was not a rejection. She just does not feel she is worth it of anything because of that that self hatred. So you should try to not see only your side of the problem.

That conversation he had with Kabaji on the car, stayed inside his mind for the rest of the week. It was a foreign concept for Atobe for a person to hate himself because he always liked his persona, even more than that. So he really could not understand what Tatsu had been feeling. But just knowing he was not rejected already made his mood go back to normal. He kept stealing glances of her any way he could. When others started to notice his actions, Atobe just started to train three times more, so he would not let his attention slip anymore.

When Friday arrived everyone was released earlier from practice, since they would have to travel Saturday. Kabaji did not join the afternoon training because he went to visit his sister’s house, so Atobe had to call the car himself when he wanted to go home. He was already doing it when he saw Tatsu going into her office, he closed his phone and went after her.

“Oya, what are you still doing here? Didn’t you release everybody earlier so we could rest? Why won’t you do the same?” Atobe asked while leaning on the door. Tatsu did not bother to stop what she was doing to answer him, there were a lot of papers over her table and she was furiously typing on the computer. “Need to finish checking if all the documents for Sunday are here. Since Tarou won’t be with us I need to guarantee no paper problems will get in our way in this tournament.” He got close to the table and picked up the papers that were there, she was still typing and did not notice it. “I will help you.” He said. “Go home, you need to rest you better go before the rain.” She gave him a serious look, rejecting his help. “I am not offering you my help, I am telling you that I will help.”  


In the end, the girl gave up on the argument and let him help her. When they were near the end it was raining a lot outside, but both were too focused on the work at hand to notice it. Tatsu was registering the last page when they heard a cell phone ringing. Atobe searched his backpack and picked up a phone that was different from the one he used normally. His face switched for a very worried expression.

Before he could tell her what happened the ground started shaking, she had to hold the table to not fall. Atobe was fast enough to pick up both their Tennis bags, grab her by her arm and leave the office. The ground was still shaking slightly and it was raining a lot on them. Atobe shouted: “It is an earthquake, it seems it will get worst and they don’t know when it will be safe, the cell phone signals are off because of the heavy rain and the cars were forbidden to move so no one can come pick us up. We need to get out of the school because this place is not built to support earthquakes.”

She took a few seconds to understand him and to process the information under the heavy rain, but soon she grabbed her bag from his hand, held his right hand on hers and started running to the closest way out of the school. “You are gonna get sick if you stay in this rain, and you need to play on Monday! If we run 5 minutes we will be at my house it is build to stand during small earthquakes, from there you try to call your security again. Let’s go!” Tatsu did not wait for his answer and just started running, holding Atobe’s hand, she tried her best to go as fast and she could but she slipped countless times due to all the water and the fact that the floor was still slightly shaking.

More than once Atobe held her and more then once they almost fell to the floor, both were completely wet, his white practice shirt and shorts were technically glued to his body, Tatsu noticed that in one of the times she slipped and he held her, from that moment on, all the water on the floor and the shaking were not even close for being her reason of distraction. But that 14 year old boy, with white clothes, on the rain, that looked and felt way too hot for his age.

Tatsu used all her self-control to reach her house. While entering she left her bag to the floor and went upstairs fast to get some towels, in less than 20 seconds she was back downstairs, Atobe was still standing on the same spot, shivering. She put a towel around his arms and directed him to the bathroom on her room, he complained quite a bit but she managed to push himself inside, close the door and shot her orders. “Just go take a shower! You can’t get sick, I will leave your bag here, I guess your school uniform is inside, I will close the room’s door, when you done, just come downstairs!” She heard a murmured “Hn” from the other side of the door and understood that as an agreement.   


The first thing Atobe did was to lean his body on the nearest wall and finally focus. He did not even notice that Tatsu’s bandages were waterproof, his vision was focused somewhere else. It was the first time on his life that he hated his vision, he hated how his insight remembered perfectly how the water made her white shirt cling to her body like a second skin, he hated how he could see every muscle on her back and the small wings she had tattooed on the middle of her back, he hated how he could easily describe every single detail of her black and red bra and he hated even more that he could feel her cleavage on him when he saved her from slipping.

But the single thing Atobe hated the most right now was how his body was responding to all those detailed visions that were on his mind, he hoped for the last hair on his precious head that Tatsu had not noticed that. He took off his wet clothes, left them on the floor and entered on the shower. He finally took a look around him, it was a small full white bathroom, he could see the girl’s beauty products on his right side, he used her shampoo and conditioner but when he closed his eyes for a second, his hated visions from the storm came to his mind adding up to the smell of her hair that was now all around him. He took the rest of his shower with extremely cold water.

He left his bath still sighing and trying to ignore the Tatsu’s smell that was around him. He put his school uniform, looked around and he realized he was on her room. It was basically half the size of his. There was an average sized bed under a big window, but what called most of his attention was a Seigaku Tennis club jacket inside a glass, there were some signatures on the jacket, he could clearly distinguish Tezuka’s and Fuji’s signature, that seemed to be the most organized part of the room. A jealously started burning on his chest so he went downstairs like Tatsu had asked him to.

There were two leather black couches facing each other on her living room, besides them there was a huge black piano that seemed to be in perfect conditions and a white electric guitar on a station besides one of the couches. Behind the piano there was a white and black stand with some benches, Tatsu was behind those on something that looked like a really tidy kitchen. She was wearing a red long sleeved shirt that was way larger than herself, it was like a dress for her, combined with thigh high socks, and her hair was still wet, the first thing that passed through Atobe’s mind was if she was wearing a bra under it, as soon as that crossed his mind, he called for Tatsu to try to put his brain back on normal again.

“Oh, you finished the bath? Hope you don’t get sick, or Tarou will murder me, I will finish the food soon, just have a seat.” Tatsu said. Atobe set down in one of the bench’s in front of her and observed that the girl seemed really skilled in the kitchen. In a few minutes she served two plates with an omelet on each, she put one of the plates in front of him with a fork and a knife, went around and set by his side. He started eating and it was not a bad meal, even being simple flavors for him, just because it was made by Tatsu it already tasted better. He could see the girl taking some glances at himself now and then, just as a revenge for what he suffered in the bathroom and after, the next time he saw her staring he gave a slight blink. The older girl made a surprised expression, picked up her plate and went to wash the dishes.

“Hn, Tatsu, can you play the piano?” Atobe asked after he was done with his food. She finished washing the dishes and dried her hands. “Yes, I can play it slightly but I am better on the guitar or electric guitar. Why?” He tried to think of an excuse to ask her to play a song for him, but nothing crossed his mind. Without him needing to ask, Tatsu got close to the electric guitar and turned it on the amplifier that was by it side. “ I guess you enjoy classical, Don’t you?” Atobe nodded and set on the same couch the girl. She started playing the first notes from Phantom of the Opera, he recognized it on the spot. For the minutes she played he just let himself be immersed on the song and on that older girl, that seemed to be on her own world while she played guitar, she seemed so peaceful and beautiful that he had an urgency to touch her but he did not want to interrupt the song.

She finished playing the song and put the guitar back on the spot it was. They stared at each other and ended up blushing. “Check if your phone signal returned, it seems the tremors stopped.” With that sentence from Tatsu, the moment was lost. He picked up his personal handy phone but still no signal. And the tremors started stronger, the girl that was sitting on the arm of the couch fell back, Atobe held her over his body, the tremors kept going but he could feel her warm body and smell her hair directly in front of him, unconsciously he hugged her closer, she squirmed on his arms and tried to turn around.

The lights went off. It was complete darkness but the earthquake stopped. Tatsu spoke on a murmur while removed his arms from her body. “Use your phone to give me some light, please, I will get candles.” “Hn, here it is” He gave her his phone so she could get up and bring some candles but he would not apologize for the hug. The girl came back a few minutes later with 5 candles and placed them around the floor on little plates so they could at least see each other.

Atobe noticed something he had not seen before. “You are not using your bandages, right now.” She set hugging her legs over the socks, on the couch, and answered. “I normally don’t use them at home, I live here alone anyway.” The silence reached them again. This time Atobe was the first to break it. “Let me see it.” “What?” “Your arms and legs.” He could see her hugging her legs closely. “No, it is disgusting.” He leaned closer to her and asked again. “Let me see it, please.” Tatsu started shaking slightly but she ordered him. “ Close your eyes.”

He could hear she shifting a bit on the couch. He felt her pulling his hand and soon his fingers were touching a different type of skin, it was not something pleasant, it had some warm plastic feeling. Tatsu spoke on a shaky voice. “You will not want to see this, it feels disgusting.” Atobe did not answer her, he simply opened his eyes. The girl’s arms and legs were on a darker shade of red, like she had stitched her skin all over the place so the actual thing just fused with the damaged tissue and gave it a plastic consistency, her legs looked even worse, from the middle of her thigh to the end of her legs there was a brownish color and surgery scars. Everything seemed even more out of a horror movie with the candle lights.

But what affected him the most was not the scars it was the fact that the girl in front of him was shaking from head to toe. He passed his arms around her and hugged her close. That strong girl that won against anyone on Tennis was shaking on his arms and burying her face on his neck. Atobe had never felt his heart so heavy, he wanted to say something or to do something that would make the girl stop to shake, but he could not think about anything and all of this because someone else saw her scars. The lights went back and his phone started ringing nearby but he did not let her go he just picked up the phone with one arm and quickly told the security guard where he was. When he heard the car parking in front of the house, Tatsu had stopped shaking but she was still with her head leaned on him, as soon as he stopped holding her, though, she turned around quick and went to the other side of the couch facing away from him.

Instead of just saying Goodbye and leaving, Atobe pulled one of her legs, making her lie face up on the couch with a really surprised expression. Still holding her leg up, he leaned down and planted a kiss on her thigh on the exact place the scars met the normal skin on her legs. “You are not disgusting, you are beautiful.” He said before leaving her house.   


Atobe had things to do. He was fixed in doing something nice for Tatsu. He called Tezuka at that night and asked if he would be able to help him, as expected, he agreed on spot. It would be 20 hours for the package go and return from Germany what gave him around 24 hours left before they departed for the tournament and the package needed to be on his hands. He slept instantly as soon as his head hit the pillow, still thinking about her body in his arms.

On the next morning he called Tezuka to confirm if everything was done with the package, the Seigaku captain confirmed. The rest of the morning Atobe made some light training and fixed some student council business to stop himself from calling Tatsu. He had no clue what to say to her anyway. At 2 pm his package arrived. He entered the car and went to see the Fuji brothers. After those 3, he made a stop at Echizen’s temple and then returned home. The only ones left were the Hyotei member’s and Sakaki-sensei. And he could do those on the next day.

When he arrived home his personal phone rang. It was Tatsu. He answered on that same second and before she could say anything, Atobe said: “Don’t you dare apologize! And I won’t apologize either, because we should not be sorry for that.” She did not say anything else about the subject, just confirmed with him the times they would be leaving tomorrow.

On the next morning, Atobe received news that Sakaki was in other city making a presentation. So he had to do another trip before he met with the Hyotei members after lunch to register the final signatures. When it was 7 pm Tatsu’s present was ready, Mukahi had complained some saying that Atobe took too much of the space, but he was more important so he deserved to take more space.   


When Tatsu arrived at the bus 10 minutes before the depart time, all of the Hyotei regulars and Haginosuke were already inside. She felt something weird. “What is happening?” She asked. Atobe approached her with something on his hands. She had passed her entire weekend trying to bury herself in work to not remember what he did, what she let him do and what she wanted to do. Still the younger boy got close to her and was giving her something.

When Tatsu saw what it was, she felt tears falling from her eyes, the last time she cried was when she was still interned on the hospital, since than nothing had felt worthy of crying. But seeing that. Seeing the Hyotei jacket on Atobe’s hands, not any Hyotei jacket it was a signed Hyotei jacket. Signed by everyone, they had even made Tezuka sign it for her, Tarou and Ryoma. The tears kept falling from her cheeks and into the jacket. The bus had started moving and everybody else around her was shouting welcoming her to the team, except Atobe. He was standing quietly in front of her smiling. Even with all the tears in her face she stared at that boy, at that 14 year old boy that somehow always made her change her decisions, made her do things she did not want to. She stared at Atobe and smirked, a smirk filled with tears and happiness.


	7. Chapter 7: A price you pay.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first tournament for Hyotei's way on getting the national's invite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mid chapter titles extracted from the song “Undertow” by “Pain Of Salvation” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MpG2IV9QuY

#####  **First: “You were always there,”**

Right now Atobe really wanted to kill Shishido. He wanted his teammate to just die so he and Tatsu stopped playing poker and she would give him attention. Kabaji was sleeping in the armchair in front of him and Yuushi was beside him reading a book. On the armchairs to his left Tatsu was kneeling, turned to the back of the bus, playing poker with Shishido while Ootori was by his side trying to understand the game. Gakuto and Taki were sitting behind Atobe, with Gakuto trying to bother Yuushi while he read and Taki watching the poker match. Hiyoshi was set besides Jirou in the armchairs in front of their coach.

Atobe let out another grunt when he saw Tatsu losing one poker match against Shishido, the blue haired boy beside him closed his book and said. “For god’s sake, can the two of you invite our annoying captain to the poker game before he groans even more over my book? Invite Gakuto also so he stops bothering me.”

“What? I am not groaning!” Atobe said, with a loud grunt.

“You guys could say if you wanted to participate, that is so lame.” Shishido added his input.

“I don’t know how to play!” Gakuto said, while approaching them from over Taki.

“We can teach you guys how to play. Haginosuke and Ootori also seemed interested. Just come closer, me and Shishido will play a show match to teach you guys.” The girl answered.

Gakuto tried to jump to the seat beside Tatsu but was held by Yuushi that made him seat on the armchair besides him, while Atobe stood near Tatsu. Shishido started explaining the higher and lower hands of poker and soon him and the girl started the practice match.

Tatsu was dealing the cards, they were using a notebook as a makeshift table, Tatsu put 5 cards over the notebook face down, and gave 2 cards for Shishido and 2 for her.

“Any raises?” The girl asked, the boy just shook his head. After, 3 of the 5 cards on the table were turned and Tatsu raised the sum once. The last two cards were turned and it was the showdown.

“A pair of Ace.” Shishido said with a smile. Tatsu faked a surprise but soon opened her smirk

“Full House.” The boy complained a bit while she made a victory sign with her hand.

“I normally win a lot on poker but I gotta say you are really good, Tatsu.” Shishido said.

“To be honest, I am not really used to play poker like this. Without actually betting something or trying to distract the opponents, so it’s difficult to win against you.” She answered.

Mukahi shouted from the seat next to Yuushi. “Like betting what? Money?”

The girl seemed to stop and think and was quite hesitant while answering. “No, normally like… drinks and other stuff.”

“What other stuff? The red haired boy did not give up. Tatsu let out a sigh and answered quick.

“If I tell you what other stuff, Sakaki will murder me. So use your imagination to guess.” Atobe and Yuushi choked on pure air, Gakuto and Ootori still held a confused expression.

The six of them started playing after. Gakuto, Taki and Ootori were pretty bad, if they had any good card it was easy for anyone to notice. Atobe was good enough to put up a fight with Tatsu and Shishido, but since they had more experience, he ended up in third place until that moment. He didn’t want to lose so Tatsu’s words from before passed through his head, trying to distract his opponents. He could do that. First to take Shishido off the game, he started focusing on making Ootori lose every round, and soon his friend was passing most of the game helping the younger boy and not trying to win.

Now it was him against Tatsu, soon he devised a plan to distract her with his touch. He passed all his cards to the left hand, stretched his right arm on her direction and slightly touched her back, he passed his finger over the place he knew she had a tattoo. They finished that round and Atobe won. But Tatsu spoke before next round started.

“I guess it’s late enough, let’s all go sleep since you guys have a match tomorrow.” The girl picked up the notebook and the deck. Before Atobe returned to his previous spot, she grabbed his arm and made him stay by her side.

Tatsu turn off the lights in the bus from her spot, but there was still moon light from the window so they could clearly see each other and the things in front of them. She picked up the notebook she was using as deck table, opened in a random page and started writing.

“Why?” Atobe saw she was holding the pen for him to answer. He took the pen from her hand and continued that different kind of communication.

“You know why.” The girl let out a sigh and continued.

“I am a horrible person, you should not do this.”

“I don’t care.” He wrote and made a challenging look to Tatsu.

“Go to sleep.” Was the answer he read before she closed the notebook, put it under her armchair and turned to the window.

Atobe was not going to let the discussion end on that note. He got closer to Tatsu and asked in a really low voice.

“Won’t you sleep?” Without looking at him she whispered.

“I won't be able to, sleeping at home is difficult enough, in an unknown place will be even worst. You. Go. Sleep.”

He hated when she answered without looking at him, so he just turned his spoiled child side on. “Why should I go sleep if you are not sleeping.”

She, finally, turned to him, he could see she was annoyed already. “Atobe, you have a game tomorrow, just go sleep.”

They were really close, Atobe could see there was something different in her eyes, he wanted to see more of it so he kept going. “No, what will you do about it?”

He saw a smirk on her face for a second, on the next moment her hands were on his chest, not allowing him to move in the armchair. She leaned in his ear and said.

“You are playing with things you don’t understand, so be careful.” Tatsu gave him a kiss on the cheek and pulled his head to her chest, one of her hands were caressing Atobe’s hair.

He felt himself leaning on her touch and his cheek was still burning from her kiss, he smiled when she whispered. “The kiss was a payback from Friday, and this is a thanks for the jacket. Goodnight, Atobe.”

He woke up with someone whispering his name, but he did not want to leave the land of dreams, he had this great pillow and was hugging something warm. He felt a pull on his hair and decided to open his eyes to see who dared to pull his gorgeous hair. Atobe saw Tatsu’s face, really close to him. Her chest was his pillow and he was hugging her body. He would say he was laying on top of her if it wasn’t for the fact they were on armchairs. She was pulling his hair slightly and making a motion with her eyes for him to get off her. He moved his body a bit, still on the sleepy state. Tatsu got up and fixed her clothes and hair, and said loudly enough to wake up the other boys.

“Good Morning all. We will be arriving soon, so please get up and mentally prepare for the matches.” Atobe got up and looked around a bit. Oshitari was staring at him with a teasing smile, but he decided to ignore it and just focus on the upcoming matches.

Soon the bus arrived and they had woken up everyone but Jirou. Tatsu put her new Hyotei jacket on and passed the instructions for the day.

“You all have two matches before lunch time and then the finals. Remember you won’t have a cheer team and everybody will be against you. It is highly likely they try to provoke and annoy just to make us get eliminated. I have a meeting to deliver you guys information during the first match of the day so do not lose your cool. And one more thing, I trust you guys to not lose.” And she left the bus.

They went straight to the court they would have their very first game at. On the way there most of the players that passed were staring and commenting about them, some groups stood on their way on purpose but they decide to follow Tatsu’s advice and do not cause any trouble. Arriving on the court they started to do some light warming up, a lot of the people outside the court seemed to be waiting for their game. The first ones to play would be Mukahi and Hiyoshi, Taki was in charge of taking care if they need drinks or contacting Tatsu, Shishido and Ootori were on other court doing some light practice. Atobe felt there was some weird atmosphere around, he could hear people murmuring about Hyotei, and everybody that was watching just seemed to be waiting for something to happen, he set on the coach bench and waited for the game to begin.

 

Tatsu was seeing too many known people for her liking. She had already saw two players from her time that seemed to be just standing around, she knew that it was highly likely that they would come confront her about something she had done. Not that she blamed them, she used to be a real bitch when winning against someone. She may have heard some insults while delivering the team’s information and checking all the paperwork but that was not anything new for her. One of the good parts about hating herself was that any insult against her did not mean anything.

She took way longer than she had imagine to check all the paperwork, probably because the secretary attending her had been, accidentally, messing up all the documents at least twice each. Tarou was right when he warned her they really did not want Hyotei presence on this tournaments. After around 2 hours Tatsu had managed to finish everything, when she took the documents and left the room she hear Haginosuki’s voice in the distance.

“Gakuto, No!” That made her run desperately on that direction.   


Atobe really wanted to let his anger out now, but he knew that would not be wise. Kabaji was holding Mukahi that had been trying to get in a fight with some of the older boys that had been watching their game. It started during first doubles and continued for all three games they won. Everyone around was booing and insulting them and their plays, it was like everything was combined before. He had given more than one of his Hyotei speeches but here was too much people around being directly against them for it to have any effect. Even after they won the match, it did not stop.

That made Mukahi lose his temper and just go straight into a discussion with some of the older guys in the audience. Kabaji managed to hold him before anything else happened, but now there was a crowd around them, he tried one more time to get them out of the way.

“Oya, get out of our way, not our fault that your teams don’t have enough Tennis skills to beat us.” The older boy that had provoked Mukahi took a step forward and was going to say something but Tatsu got in between them just before he started his speech.

“The game is over, we win, get out of the way.” She said.

Atobe did not like the fact the girl had stood between him and that guy, so he stood by her side. She gave him a side look and the guy in front of them finally managed to speak.

“Oh, so the Devil bitch decided to come stop a fight? Wasn’t you that normally started fights, before?” And that was all it took to make Atobe lose his cool.

“You called her what, lowlife?” He tried to step forward to face again the person that was insulting his Tatsu but there was an arm in front of him. Tatsu was fast enough to stop Atobe and push him in the other direction, while making the other team members follow them.

There were some more insults directed to Tatsu on the way to the empty place they were heading to, what made Atobe complain even more for being dragged. When they reached that location, Tatsu let go of his arm and motioned for Kabaji to let Mukahi go.

“Good job at winning the match in 3 sets, not very good job in keeping your cool, though.” Gakuto bested Atobe on shouting back at the girl.

“Keeping my cool?! Did you see the stuff they were saying to us? Did you hear what that guy said to you? How can we keep our calm like this?” The girl let him shout as much as he wanted, when he stopped she spoke on a serious tone.

“It does not matter what they say. The organizers of this tournaments are searching for an opportunity to disqualify us, so what they say or how they say must not matter, understood?”

They all got how serious it was what she said, Gakuto tried to argue a bit but Yuushi helped convince him. Atobe was still really annoyed though, specially for the insults made at Tatsu. When it was the time for them to go to second game their coach said.

“And one more thing, specially for you Atobe, I don’t need anyone to defend me. It is good that I am with the team right now so most of the insults will be directed at me, so do not try to defend me.” She did not speak with her normal voice tone, right now she was giving no room to counter argument. It was the tone Sakaki used with them. So Atobe grunted but did not answer.

On the way and arriving on the court, the insults directed to Tatsu multiplied but they need not say anything. She set on the coach bench and said.

“Ootori and Shishido. You two will go first. Gakuto you have this set to cool off, if you don’t I am sending Kabaji on your place. Atobe, you are playing single’s three to use some of that extra energy you are having right now.” Again the coach tone so they all agreed and the first double went to the court.

The game went fast, Hyotei was way superior to their opponents, and having Tatsu on the coach seat giving incentive was helping them. The girl was pretty much cheering them on on all the good plays, what made a clear difference from everybody outside against them. The silver pair won, and she let Mukahi play the next game with Hiyoshi. When the game started the girl asked atobe to sit besides her on the bench and started talking with him.

“You are, probably, very annoyed at me right now, with reason.” The rest of the sentence she whispered on a low voice only for him to hear. “Thank you, for defending me.”

He retorted with an annoyed face, but inside, his anger had subsided. Mukahi and Hiyoshi won the game fast. And when it was Atobe’s time he made sure to look directly at Tatsu after every point he scored, at first she was surprised, after some time though, she started cheering and supporting him at every scored point. He finished his match in less than 15 minutes.

There were no more incidents until the final. The insults and provocations seemed to not affect them anymore after all Tatsu’s cheering. For the final, the order would be the same as previous games but Jirou would play singles 3. They all made their warm-ups and started the game. Again it was clear those teams were not on Hyotei’s level, the silver pair won an easy 6x0 and the Mukahi/Hiyoshi double also started their match really well. On the middle of the second game, Haginosuke left to get some water. The match was won, another 6x0 and Hyotei’s treasurer still had not returned.

Tatsu turned to Atobe. “Atobe, I will go after Haginosuke. If we don’t get back until the match is over. Just take everyone to the bus, there is no award ceremony, I will meet you guys there.”

He tried to stop her, but if he left after her there would be no one else to lead them on the court. So he took the girl’s spot on the bench while Jirou was being awoken for his match.

Jirou won. It was a long game though, because the curly haired boy simply could not find a reason to wake up and play properly. When they were done, Atobe just went on the direction of the bus, following Tatsu’s instructions. Tatsu and Haginosuke did not appear for the next 10 minutes, when the rest was already going to search for them, they hear a crying Taki on the distance.

“Tatsu-saaan, I am so sorry, thank you so much for helping me...” And he kept apologizing and thanking their coach at the same time, when they entered the bus, everything seemed to be alright with Taki, besides all the crying. Tatsu, though, had a large cut on one of her cheeks that was bleeding a bit.

Atobe approached really concerned and pissed, he got a quick explanation that she had been pushed off when helping Haginosuke deal with some bullies, that did not make him less pissed, thought. It just made him want to go there and crush whoever had done that. They would be able to arrive at Tokyo still on the same day, due to finishing the games fast. After all the worry and problems everybody started celebrating.

 

#####  **Second: “but you may lose me here.”**

Tatsu was happy, they had won, even despite all the problems, she decided she would do better on their next tournaments to guarantee that those did not happen again. When she was looking at their celebration she did not notice Atobe by her side.

“Oya Tatsu, put this on so your face does not scar.” The boy was staring at her, holding one of his ridiculous Band-aids with little crowns on them. She let out a loud laugh, and told him.

“Put it on me, then.” He got closer and put the Band-aid on her face, aligning it perfectly with the scar.

“Do I look more or less ridiculous than you did on that Sunday?” He looked around him, making sure the others were still distracted with whatever else they were doing.

“No, you look perfect. This Saturday, go out with me.” It was not a question and the girl did not feel anything against that statement. She really wanted to go out with him. She had put all her worries locked on her brain, and she wanted to simply go out and have fun with this boy. Somewhere inside she knew she had already fallen for him since a while ago. But admitting it was letting go of all the hurt and pain of her past, and she still was not able to do it. So she just smiled.

The next week was something different from what Tatsu had experienced before, all trainings went fine and there were no problems. The fact that she and Atobe were finally capable to communicate properly, without one or the other being pissed was also a plus. She passed the entire week trying to ignore the negative thoughts on her head and just focus on practice, and the light flirting was helping a lot on that case. More than once she wanted to just pull Atobe to her office and kiss him relentlessly, specially when he took off his shirt after a practice or when he would stare at her intently while she was playing Tennis. But she still had some self control and one information that did not leave her head was the fact that he was fourteen. Soon to be fifteen, though, his birthday was on next week.

When Friday arrived the only thing Tatsu thought was not going well was the feeling she had that something bad would happen soon. It could be only her pessimistic mind but the feeling was still present, and it was getting increased by the fact she knew Atobe did not know the entire truth about her. But that thought was buried behind the most locked curtain in her brain. Entering the school she saw again a different black car parked near the backstreet, she felt she recognized the driver for a second but could not remember from where. She dismissed that and went to her office.

As always Atobe passed there before the morning practice, since nowadays even him was arriving for the full morning practice. He set in front of her while she was fixing the schedule for the day and passed the next 20 seconds just staring at her, this was his new favorite activity since she had lost her control for a second on that bus trip. Tatsu guessed he was trying to test her, she could do something, but he got up and said something about being excited for tomorrow. Excited. Now she wish she could erase that from her brain because it would bother her for the entire day.

Atobe left the practice 5 minutes earlier, Tatsu gave him a bye while she discussed the people that parked near school, the younger boy was telling her how there were some security problems on the past months so they just allow some cars to park on this block, so if you did not have a connection with a student family or worked there you would not be able to park near. That single information made Tatsu run to the exit.

She remembered who was the driver of the black car she had recognized earlier, it was the security guard that has stopped her from entering Atobe’s house on Sunday. She also remembered that the same black car was parked near Hyotei for the entire week, and normally parked on a more hidden spot. Atobe’s words that they had increased the security around his family due to some outside information passed through her head, and then he saying that normally it was his Butler that picked him up due to lack of trust on the new guards. That made Tatsu run even faster. She would not let this happen. She would not let that happen again.

 

When Atobe left the school he noticed something different then usual, it was not the normal car waiting for him but when he went to turn around to go back inside the school he felt two hands grab his arms and another hand putting something on his mouth, next he saw he was being dragged to a black car. There was something plastic tying his hands behind his back and his legs were tied together with two lines of the same kind of strap, he tried to get free but it was useless. The 3 man were dressed in black and had black masks on their faces. Two of them were holding him and the other one was waiting inside.

When he was already 2 meters from the black car, the man on his right suddenly felt forward, Atobe used that opportunity to lean to that side what made the men on his right to lose his balance. He fell to the floor and then he saw what had happened, Tatsu was standing between him and the men, she had kicked the first one and pushed the second. But there was a third man. Atobe tried to say something but the tissue inside his mouth made it only appear like grunts, the second the girl turned back a bit to check on him, the third man appeared from inside the vehicle and hit Tatsu from the side.

The third man had a kind of taser device on his hand and Tatsu was on the floor, with her body twitching a bit. Atobe dragged his body close to where she felt. Why did she do that? She was going to get killed, he needed to be sure she was alright. The desperation on his brain for her well being made him forget everything else. Meanwhile the three kidnappers were discussing.

“Who is this girl? Where did she come from?” The man with the taser asked.

“I researched her, she is just a former heir from a company but now she doesn’t have anyone.” The second man answered, approaching them.

“It does not matter, we need to get out of here. Just pick up the boy and let’s go!” He said that and ran to Atobe’s body to drag him to the car.

Before he was touched, though, Atobe saw Tatsu shove the man. She was barely standing but she was still defending him from the kidnappers, he just wanted to shout at her to stop. To stop hurting herself for him. He was forcing his arms so much to break from the constraints that he felt his wrists already getting cut by the harsh plastic.

“I won’t let you touch him. I won’t.” She murmured. The man that had the taser got up from the floor and shouted.

“You bitch! Now you will be punished!” One of the other two added.

“And she is quite pretty, maybe we could use her for something else.”

Atobe felt sick, if they touched her he would… He would do nothing because he still did not manage to unbind his wrists. He wanted to shout, to scream, to kill those men. Just saying something like that made him want to murder all of them

“You can, hurt me, rape me, or kill me… But I won’t let you touch Atobe! My body and mind do not matter! I am not scared of you.” Her voice was raw and weak but her feet didn’t move.

The boy just wanted everything to stop. The men went for her. She got tasered again. She fell back near himself but was still trying to stand. One of them men kicked her and she fell again. Atobe felt blood coming from his wrists, but he could not handle it anymore, when he saw Tatsu pass out he just closed his eyes and prayed they did not do anything else to her. That God would not let them do it.

“Stand still or we will shoot” When he opened his eyes, his family entire security team was pointing guns to the kidnappers, soon they were being arrested by the guards, but Atobe did not care. He just stared at Tatsu laying on the floor. When the security took off the tissue around his mouth the first thing he did was shout.

“Are you fucking stupid? Go help her! Or better, release my arms so I can do it! Tatsu!” His arms were set free and he crawled to her side and held her. He kept whispering her name desperately. It didn’t matter his legs were still being held together or that his security was talking to him. The only thing in front of him was the girl he loved, passed out in front of him.

His Butler approached and touched Tatsu’s arm. “Keigo-sama I have medical training let me examine her until the med helicopter arrives.” He let his butler get close, but he still did not stop holding the girl. Two other guards untied his legs. His butler was measuring Tatsu’s heartbeat, he cut her shirt open and Atobe could clearly see two burns near her stomach, where the taser had touched and a big purple mark near her chest, where one of the kidnappers had kicked her. He cursed how useless he had been. He had let her get hurt. She was passed out and it was his fault. When the helicopter arrived and he entered on it still holding Tatsu, he finally noticed he had been crying through the entire time.

 

#####  **Third: “Now love me if you dare.”**

Atobe felt he had been on that hospital for days, but it had only passed less than one hour. He was sitting in an uncomfortable chair, leaning towards the bed Tatsu had been laid on, he was still holding her hand and anyone that tried to take him off the room just had their efforts wasted. He saw when the doctors uncovered her scars and put new bandages on them, when they took care of the burn marks made by the taser and the purple mark on her chest also. He heard Sakaki-sensei explaining to the doctors that most of the pain relief medicine did not work on her so they could do all procedures without it and delivering her medical record. His mother tried to make him leave the room twice but he didn’t move an inch.

He felt the hand he was holding move a bit, and he opened his eyes to see Tatsu trying to get up.

“No, you are still very hurt, you cannot get up.” Atobe said while holding the girl in place. She turned her face to him slightly, he was so relieved she had woken up, every second he passed there he imagined the worst possible scenarios, and his heart could not take much more of that. He had never lived such pain as he felt before, or so much relief he was feeling now. The girl spoke to him on a shaky voice.

“Atobe, I am so glad you are alright. I was scared of something happening to you.” She tried to move to touch him but the pain was clear on her face. He just leaned down and hugged her.

“I am so mad at you right now. But I will wait until you are better for me to show my anger. Crazy girl.” He whispered to the girl on his arms. After a few seconds she started shaking.

“Atobe, where are we?”

“On the hospital, why?” When he answered he saw fear on the girl’s eyes, she hugged him closely and started shaking even more.

“Let's get out of here, please, I cannot stay in hospitals, I … Can't… Stay.. here.” Her shaking got worse, soon the medical apparel around them was beeping also and the girl passed out again.

Atobe convinced the doctors to let them get discharged. And he was the one that carried Tatsu downstairs and inside the car. Some people had been against that, but Sakaki-sensei helped him convince them. He felt so tired for the day, his wrists were still hurt but he was way more worried about Tatsu’s condition, she had been so careless and resolute. He knew there was something more about that attitude of her, that lacked any self-preservation. Thinking about that he felt asleep, on his car on the way home, with his mother sitting by his side, still holding Tatsu on his arms and hand in hand with her.

When Atobe woke up he was sitting on his armchair in front of his bed. He was still holding one of Tatsu’s hands. She had been laid down on his bed and was sleeping soundly. He thought he wouldn’t mind passing their date day like this. The boy touched her face and played with her hair, he kept doing that for the next minutes until he saw her slowly opening her eyes.

“Good Morning.” He whispered. Their faces were really close, one of his hands was still entangled on her disheveled hair. Even doing a slight pain filled expression, she turned a bit to his side, touching his face with her right hand. He let go of her left hand and said.

“You should not try to move, neko-chan. You are still very hurt.” While saying it he held the hand that touched his face and gave it a small kiss.

Atobe got distracted for a second because of the girl’s surprised expression. Tatsu leaned forward and kissed him. He leaned onto the kiss and used his left arm for support, her lips felt amazing over his, he just wanted to feel more of that. Her hands held his hair and pulled him closer so he opened his mouth for the kiss. Their tongues touched and entwined. After some seconds she broke the kiss making a pain filled expression and laying back on the bed. He called her name in a whisper.

“Tatsu...” The girl still had not said anything, she turned slightly to his side. He saw regret on her face and that made him ask the question he had been holding the previous day.

“Why? Why did you do that? You could have died. If they had firearms you would have died. That was such a stupid thing to do...” She took some time to answer.

“As long are you are alright, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if my body stops working, if my mind stops working or if I perish completely. As long as you are alright.” His anger appeared on his next sentence, it was triggered by the preposterous reasoning she had given.

“How can you say that? Don’t you think at all how would I feel if you died? How guilty would I feel?”

He set back on his chair. That made Tatsu pull her body up with difficulty, when she was set down on the bed, she told him.   
“Yes, I do know you would feel guilty, and that is what makes me an awful person. It does not matter how much people would suffer, the only thing I have on my mind is that I need to die. I deserve to die. I want to die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took me a lot of research, specially, on use of tasers. Also please tell me of any problems with the new formatting! Thanks solosorca for giving me some tips about it.


	8. A broken girl (And how the pieces of her mind scattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flashback into the girl's past and the promise she made with Tezuka

#### Chapter 8: A broken girl (and how the pieces of her mind scattered).

Tatsu wanted to go back and stay on that kiss, it had been so good to finally go with her instincts. The feel of his lips on hers, his breath near hers, how his hands touched her face, it was such a soft touch. When his fingers touched her neck, her body shivered and she felt a sharp pain coming from her ribs and the kiss was lost.

After that everything came back to her, she had kissed Atobe. She wished so much she could undo that. Undo accepting being their coach. Undo meeting him. Undo coming back to Japan. But now it did not matter anymore, he loved her and he was suffering because of that. He was suffering because he got close to someone like her. But she had let all of that happen because she got enchanted by him. By the way he spoke, by the way he walked, by they way he could change from an obnoxious rich boy to someone intelligent and concerned. She loved him and right now that was the single thing that hurt her the most.

So Tatsu decided she would tell him everything, when he shouted and leaned away from her, she felt a pain on her heart. This would be the first time she would tell this story fully, and she really wanted him to get closer to her again so she could have some comfort. She ignored the pain and set down. To finally tell what she had been holding for more than 4 years.

“You, probably, heard parts of this story from others, but this will be the first time I will tell it entirely by myself.”

 

The girl had the same resolute look she used when she was defending him from the kidnappers, she set down and her hand was holding her arm in a painful manner, Atobe could see she was trying hard to not let her body lay back down. He felt so bad for seeing Tatsu on that way. He just wanted her to understand how it pained him, she could not even sit down to look at him and it was his fault. She is like that because she protected him. How could that girl he had only met for a couple of weeks make him feel that? He got up from the chair and told her:

“Lay back down, I will ask the servants to bring something for us to eat and after we talk.”

“Atobe...” She tried to reach for him, but he held her shoulders and made her lay back down.

“We will eat first then we discuss rest. Listen to what I say, at least now.” Tatsu did lay back down but he could see her eyes following him while he went to the door. When he opened the bedroom’s door his butler was already outside with their breakfast. ]

“Keigo-sama” the servant said. Atobe thought for a second if he would let his butler in since Tatsu was still in bed or if him should take it for her.

“Keigo-sama, Ms. Atobe asked us to leave the breakfast trail with you at the door. So if you excuse me.” The butler bowed down and left. Atobe thought how his mother always meddled on that kind of things. He imagined she was the one that told to put Tatsu on his room also.

Atobe led the breakfast trail inside and helped Tatsu sit down, he set besides her on the bed and saw she was already looking at the cake that was over the food cart.

“Somehow it fits, you and sweets. Even trying to look so tough from the outside you are just a cute girl that loves sweets, inside.”

She rolled her eyes at him. Even on that kind of situation they could still joke. Both of them ate their breakfasts. When Atobe turned slightly to the side to put the plates back on the trail she leaned on him and whispered:

“I found some rest of cake.” And she licked his cheek. He wanted to hold her and kiss her but she fell back on bed, with a pained expression and holding her chest.

“Tatsu!” He leaned over her, worried about that girl.

She had a hard time breathing, but it normalized after a few seconds and she spoke.

“I am such a pitiful person, I just hate this. I can’t resist you but when I get close I hurt you. And then I hurt myself because I am hurting you. I wish I was stronger so I could avoid this feeling of being scared in loving you. So I could stop this feeling of self-loath I have inside of me. Atobe.” Her breathing was really uneasy but it did not escape Atobe’s hearing the words she used. She said love. And that was all he needed to feel some of his worries fade. If she loved him, he could do it. He could make her feel better. He was sure he could.

“Tell me. Why are you like that. Tell me everything.” He moved closer to her and used his right hand to caress her hair a bit. “I will be here with you. Tell me.”

Her head leaned on his hand, she looked at his eyes for a second, but focused her stare on the ceiling before she started to speak.

“I had a really good life. My mother was a famous painter and my dad was an executive, a company CEO. I was the rebel eldest daughter and my brother was the good child. Tennis was my thing. I had been the greatest at it. When I entered Seigaku I was already chosen as captain. But I am not you, Atobe. I don’t have that amazing charisma or the way to can convince people to follow you. So I was basically only good at Tennis. And I thought everyone else could and should practice as hard as I had, but people don’t work like that.

I overworked all the other players so we reached the national finals. But that was the turning point. Sumire was our coach back then and she helped the team turn against me. She gave them the opportunity of doing it and they did it on the day of the finals. The girls refused to play, because having reached the final’s was enough for them, they were tired of Tennis and I had not manage to make them want more than that. It was my fault in the end, but I was blinded by my pride. Like that I would not win the tournament but I could win the best player trophy. Back then, whoever was elected best player would have the opportunity to play a match against a professional. And I really wanted to do it to prove my team what they were losing in not following me.

I talked to the opponent’s captain and asked her to play the singles 3 against me. She was better than me but I burned my body to win. For the first time I reached the 30% of the pain and that was what it took to defeat her. Some people tried to talk with me during that game, including Tezuka, he had been desperately shouting to me something, they tried to make me stop the game, I ignored and kept playing. On my mind winning the game was all that mattered. After I won I started feeling the pain effects on my body, it had been the first time I had forced that much. People came to congratulate me for getting the best player trophy but they all seemed to be with a weird expression.

Tatsu started shaking slightly so Atobe got closer to her, he was laying on the bed already, with his right arm around her.

“Everybody was looking really weird. One reporter managed to pass the security people and get close to me. Then I understood why they were all looking at me like that. The reporter shoved a microphone in my direction and started speaking: -How do you feel when your parents got kidnapped and died on the way to a tournament that you lost?- For some time I did not process the information so he kept going asking why I did not stop the game because the police was trying to get in contact so I would speak with the kidnappers. Why I had keep going, not minding my parents were hostages. And that they were dead because of me. My little brother with 9 years old had no parents anymore because I finished a Tennis game. And I couldn’t even win the tournament.”

Hearing her tell this story was heartbreaking, Atobe just wanted to make her hurt and pain stop. He knew he needed to hear everything to be able to be there for her. So he just held her left hand to try to give her some comfort, and show her she could continue.

“On that moment I decided I had to win against the professional I was gonna be playing against. On my 16 year old mind, that would make the hurt in my chest stop. The true reason though, was that I did not want to leave the court and face my brother. And tell him our parents were dead. That I had been playing a Tennis game and I could not even stop it to receive the news they had gotten kidnapped.

I don’t remember much about the game against the professional. I just remember colors and Tezuka shouting my name, he had been watching the entire thing. Fuji did not come because his brother was sick on the day. Tarou was out of the stadium probably dealing with the fact that their best friends, my parents, were dead. But Tezuka was there watching me destroy my body to win the game. I lost the first games, the opponent was clearly way stronger than me. But when I passed the 50% of the pain, and everything stopped, I started winning. When I realized it was already 6-6 and I could win on that point. My body was different though, I was feeling something warm under my skin, specially on my arms and legs. After I served and scored to win the game, I did not even manage to fall to the floor. My right arm and both of my legs just exploded on a blood pool, when I fell I felt my left arm doing the same. I passed out hearing Tezuka screaming and a lot of people gathering around me.

Now you know how I got all this scars. I had overworked my muscles so much the small veins and arteries, called capillaries, around them started leaking blood, and when it reached it’s peak, it went out of my skin as a blood clot that looked like an explosion. I had broken so many capillaries that I was probably going to die. I don’t know until this day how I stayed alive.”

Tatsu put her left arm up, the dark red skin filled with scars clearly contrasting with the light coming from the window, Atobe was still holding her hand and he could see perfectly the difference of his white arm with hers. She put it down and looked him on the eyes for the first time since she had started the story.

“You are just so… Why are you still listening? You should have understood by now how bad of a person I am and told me to leave.” It sounded like a jokingly question but Atobe knew she had meant every single word on that. When Tatsu looked on his eyes like this, with them so close, he just wanted to kiss her again, adding to it the fact they were still on his bed, technically, they were still cuddling on his bed. He switched that line of thought fast. He needed to hear the rest of the story because he had heard it before, until that point. She was using how close they were to avoid moving on with it.

“I learned with the years that not everyone can be as amazing as myself while dealing with the problems in life. Don’t look at me like this, with those open lips, because you will not manage to distract me. I am here because I love you and to love you properly I need to know the rest. So continue your story I will be here until the end.”

Tatsu gave him a sad smile and said. “Sometimes I don’t know if you are a sweet guy or just a very obnoxious asshole.”

“Heh, probably both, I am just amazing. But continue your story, I know there is more about it.” He answered. He felt her snuggling a bit against his arm before continuing.

“I only know flashes of what happened on the next 2 weeks. There was a lot of pain and white lights. Some people talking with me. And more pain. Even more pain. When I actually woke up even opening my eyes took too much of me. There were a dozen of machines tied to my body and there was a lot of pain and beeping. People were trying to talk with me, I could recognize Tarou and his fiance at the time, but when I tried to move my arm I felt so much pain that I just passed out again.

The next days were basically that, I would wake up, see some people around me but if I tried to do anything, the pain was so great my body would shut down again. Soon the doctors added more pain relief medicine and I could stay awake for some minutes a day, and I had a small control device to increase the percentage of the medicine I was receiving if things got too unbearable. The only visit that is worth mentioning was the last one before I got discharged. I still have so much trouble even making my brain return to it that I don’t know how I will be able to tell you about. I get useless for days every time I remember it and you saw it happening before.” Tatsu made a brief pause so he interjected.

“Was it remembering that visit that made you become a zombie on the week after we played with the St. Rudolph guys?”

“Yes. On that day on the hospital...” Her body started to tremble and her voice was really low but she continued.

“I got a visit from an executive. It was someone that had worked with my dad. I had seen him in many occasions. He entered the room and before saying anything, he picked up the remote controller of the medicine and started playing with it, I tried to speak with him but he did not listen. I remember every single word he said...”

Tatsu’s eyes were fixed and she was shaking violently now. Atobe hugged her closely and whispered.

“I am here with you, neko-chan, you can pass through it, it won’t hurt you anymore.” She held his hand tighter and continued.

“He said: -Miss Fujiwara it is a pleasure to finally talk with you. I tried to reach you before but, unfortunately, your influential friends made me get a judicial notice to be able to enter in your room. They were very... Protective of you, I don’t know why to be protective of someone that is directly responsible for her parents death. That subject still hurts you? Too bad. Anyway, my business with you here is to notice you that you just lost a judicial action and from this day onwards you are not a part of the Fujiwara family anymore due to your guilt on what happened to your parents. You may not use that surname anymore and all the assets that are not directly under your name will be transferred to your brother’s personal account. Huhu. You look at me like that is not legally possible, but it is. Because you will agree with me.-”

The girl was breathing really hard and seemed to be in a lot of pain, Atobe was so angry that she had to pass through it alone, but he let her continue without interrupting.

“I was in a lot of pain when he spoke, and he kept lowering the level of my pain medicine with the remote control in his hand. When he finished that brief introduction, the door opened and I could see my brother.” Tears started falling from the girl’s eyes, but her look was still fixed on the ceiling.

“I had not seen my brother since the day before the game but he entered the room with an accusatory look. He said it was… all my fault. And that I should disappear and never look at him again. That I should just ignore that I ever had a family. My 9 year old brother said all of that and just left the room.”

She was crying a lot and shaking, Atobe used his right hand to dry up her tears and kept trying to comfort her with his voice. After some minutes of sobbing she started talking again.

“On that day I ran away from the hospital. Tarou had told me the graveyard my parents were buried at, and I just ran there. What I wanted? I wanted to end my life, so my brother would not have anymore problems with my existence. I stayed on that graveyard crying for hours before I decided to use the morphine injection I had stolen to ease my pain. It was raining a lot on that day. Before I could do it, though, Tezuka appeared. He was soaked head to toe and was staring directly at me, kneeling on the grass still with the hospital clothes on.

He approached me and I could not even speak to explain my situation, he said: -You are not Tatsu-san, the Tatsu-san I know would never do that. She would never do any of that.- The 11 year old Tezuka was crying because of me. I told him I was there to kill myself. I threw on an 11 year old boy face the fact I, his idol, wanted to die. He held my hand and shoved the morphine injection to the side, while he told me everything. He told me how he had admired me, how he played Tennis only to see how proud I looked when he improved, how he had fallen for me. And how I had just destroyed his heart, showing him that the girl he loved was a lie and that I was this suicidal thing in front of him. He shouted and cried. I could not even apologize for myself because he was right.

Tezuka calmed down, stared directly at me and said: -I know my existence is not enough to make you stay alive so I will make a bet with you. You always loved to win bets so you will want to win this one also. I bet that I will be able to win the nationals, I will win it for you! If I win you won’t kill yourself. But if until my third year I do not manage to win the national’s as Seigaku’s captain, you can kill yourself. So you have to stay alive for some more years. I forbid you to kill yourself now. Promise me-”

And now Atobe understood. He understood why she thought he would hate her after that story. He understood why she accepted training Hyotei. Before he said anything, she concluded her story.

“That is why I accepted training Hyotei. I just needed you guys to beat Tezuka so I could end my life. That is the type of person that I am. I am so selfish that I accepted training your team just to be able to kill myself without breaking a promise. I will go away now. I will disappear from your life. You can hate me.” She tried to move but he held her body close.

“Hn, idiot. You are such an idiot that I can’t even contain myself. Why didn’t you tell anyone about this? Why? You decided to suffer everything alone! You fucking idiot! You think you are going to leave? No, you cannot leave. I won’t let you leave. Even you being this major idiot I still love you. So you are forbidden to leave my side.” Atobe said. Tatsu looked really surprised, specially when he kept hugging her close. So he continued.

“You are also forbidden to hide stuff from me, to put yourself into dangerous situations or to hurt yourself. Oh ye, also, you can’t look at any other men.” Her surprised expression disappeared and the girl started laughing on his arms.

“Fuck, laughing also hurts. You are the idiot here, how can you just say that after everything I told you. Is like you just live in your own little stupid world.” She kept smiling at him, Atobe did not mind the insults. For him, all that mattered was that Tatsu could still laugh. Even after all that happened to her, all the hurt, the loneliness, and the pain, she could still laugh.

“Yes, it’s my world. Welcome to Atobe’s Kingdom.” He said putting every little bit of dramatic effect he could. The girl laughed a bit more. Then her look changed. It passed through her eyes a look Atobe had seen before. It was the same look she had when she licked the cake on his cheek and when she had just woken up. Her lips got closer to him and he closed his eyes anticipating the kiss. But the kiss did not happen. Soon he heard and felt Tatsu’s laughing again.

“I could apologize for that but… Haha… Your face is just so great… I don’t even mind feeling pain if I can laugh at you like this. Boy! Atobe’s Kingdom! The place in which everyone uses stupid Band-aid’s on the forehead and thinks they are awesome.” Tatsu had just tricked him and Atobe hated being tricked or being laughed at. She had done both and she needed to pay her price. It vanished from Atobe’s mind the fact that she was hurt. He held her and turned his body so he was on top of her, when he was leaning down to do something. The room door opened.   


It was Atobe’s mother. Tatsu saw her entering the room and she laughed even more when the elegant lady reprimanded Atobe for what he was trying to do. After telling everything Tatsu felt so happy. Having told somehow made the weight get lifted from her shoulders a bit. And knowing he didn’t hate her, even for her selfish reasons for training his team gave her such joy. She really wanted to love that boy. To be able to be by his side, but she knew there would still be a lot to do for it to happen. For her to become a better person for him. And she wanted to try to get better. For the first time she wanted to be better so she could give that boy back at least some of the kindness he had shown her.

A doctor came to examine her and gave her some imported pain meds she had never tried before, that allowed her to get up normally and take a shower. There was still some pain but with that much, Tatsu could manage. She used Atobe’s bathroom because after everything he was still being lectured. The girl could have said something to help him but she decided that after the -Atobe’s Kingdom- bullshit he deserved some good lecturing. When she left the shower there were clothes prepared for her over Atobe’s bed.

It was a short long sleeved white dress, combined with a pair of tight-highs and some short heeled social shoes. This was really not her style, and it had been ages Tatsu had not wore a dress. She put it on and went downstairs. Ms. Atobe told her that she had looked amazing on the dress. Atobe himself, though, was still making an annoyed face because of the lecturing. Both insisted that Tatsu stayed with them until she was better, but she refused. She did not want to take more of their goodwill.

Atobe went with her to escort her to her house, but he didn’t speak anything and made sure to sit on the exact opposite side on the back seat of the car. He had that cute annoyed expression on and Tatsu had to hold herself to not tease him about it. When they arrived at her house he entered with her to check if she was setting up alright. She closed the door behind them, and passed her arms around his neck.

“You are going to stay with that annoyed expression even saying bye to me?” He turned his face to the side and answered her in a low voice.

“Hn, I got lectured because of you. And because of that dress and, specially those… socks… the security guys and the other servants were staring at you. Why do you do that?”

He was just so cute she wanted to laugh. But she switched for some serious talk to make things clear to him, if they were doing this.

“Atobe, I never had any serious relationship. Like, I had my fair share of physical stuff, but never anything serious. So I don’t know how to deal with this. I don’t know how to deal with the fact that every single thing you say or do makes me want to tease you. Or that I just wanna kiss you senseless. But if we are really doing this, I will need to be better.” Atobe, finally, looked her in the eyes and passed his arms around her.

“What do you mean if? You are my woman. There is no if on it. By the way, the other guys insist in coming to visit you tomorrow so I will come with them to guarantee they won't bother you too much, understood?”

Tatsu gave him a smile in agreement and a small kiss on the lips. “Tell them to bring some tasty sweets for me.” She said it and turned around, laying on her couch, the pain med the doctor had given her, was already wearing off and she really wanted to sleep a bit more after all of that. Atobe stood on the door for some seconds. He seemed to be moving to give her something in return for that quick kiss, but they heard the car’s horn beeping outside and his butler shouting:

“Keigo-sama, I am sorry to interrupt but your lady mother needs to talk to you on phone.”


	9. A Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two different gifts are delivered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry about the delay on this chapter, unfortunately my pc died 1 week ago so I couldn't post. Anyway, enjoy!

#### Chapter 9: A gift.

-I may have had a discussion with Tarou a few minutes ago.- Atobe looked at his phone and checked the new message he had just received from his girlfriend. He wanted to answer Tatsu asking her how could she may have discussed with Sakaki-sensei? And for her to explain things clearly and not make him worry. But his sociology class was just starting so he put his phone back on the bag and tried to pay attention.

The last day’s memories came to his mind, he and the other Hyotei’s members went to visit Tatsu. When they met to walk there only Oshitari from all the guys believed him when he told them he and Tatsu were dating. Mukahi and Shishido laughed at him, how dared they. While his teacher spoke about Engel’s and Bakunin he remembered them eating cake together and listening to some weird rock music Shishido choose. All of his friends were really worried for her as well, he had never seen Jirou or Mukahi that concerned about something that was not food, in a few weeks that girl had manage to become an irreplaceable member of the Hyotei Tennis Club.

When the girl confirmed they were really dating all the other guys were surprised. They passed the next minutes insulting him trying to discover why Tatsu decided to date him. He could feel his cheeks heat when he remembered she had just pulled him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips when they were asking her to justify her reasons. Those kind of actions seemed to be so easy for her to do, to kiss him in front of everyone, to lick his cheek, to just pull him to her whenever she wanted. A part of Atobe got really excited with it, but another part just wanted to do that with her, to kiss her when she was not expecting and to make her feel the way he did. The way he did feel when she would just attend the door with long sleeved band shirts and thigh-highs. What was that love she had for thigh-highs, he asked himself. Those things should not be used like she uses them, they should be only for lingerie and stuff. He left that line of thought and went back to her seemingly lack of reaction when he touched her. He wanted to know just how much more -physical experience- she had. Other man with Tatsu another line of thought he should avoid. Atobe realized he had been daydreaming through the first 20 minutes of his class and even the teacher was surprised with his lack of commentary, he tried to pay attention on the rest of it but Tatsu kept returning to his mind.

During the break the entire school seemed to have gone crazy with the news he was dating, Atobe imagined there would be some uproar but all his fans seemed to be crossing the line dangerously, he would do something about it. It was good that Tatsu was not coming to work today. He had convinced her to go to another hospital today to check her condition and see when she would be healed enough to do some light training. It had been such a pain to argue with her about it, she wanted to play Tennis yesterday even barely walking without pain. That girl had the way to make him worried, play Tennis after having suffered all that. At least she was going to the hospital, he would pick her up there after his practice and, maybe, finally tease her a bit, Atobe smiled to himself thinking about what he would do while he walked to sit on his special chair at the student council’s office.   


Tatsu woke up very late that Monday. When she checked the phone it was already past 9, there were 3 new messages, one from Atobe wishing her a good morning, he was so cute, she thought. The next two were from Tarou, asking her to call him as soon as she could. The girl was impressed for the fact Sakaki did not complain to her when she had told him she was dating Atobe. He even seemed pleased somehow. According to him there would be no problems at the school, as long as she would behave, due to the amount of donations Atobe’s family had given to the academy. At least, one less problem to her, now to call Sakaki.

He picked up on spot, as always. “Good, Tatsu, I need your help on something.”

Tarou needed her, unfortunately, she could not do any work today, Atobe’s orders, so it should not been any direct physical action, she thought. Sakaki considered the pause she had given as a signal to speak and continued.

“The students have been complaining the only musical field trips we take them to are classical. So we arranged to bring them to the cultural music exchange next week.”

“Oh That’s cool.” She answered, still not understanding what she had to do with it.

“Yes, it would be… pleasant. But I was checking and I cannot enter on it.” Who would be able to stop Sakaki from entering in a place? And still what that had to do with her? Tatsu still could not understand, so the older man kept speaking.

“I see you don’t know about it. Great! Your… friend. He is playing on the cultural festival, actually from what I understood he is one of the organizers, and he barred me from entering.”

There was a pause on the line and then Tatsu started laughing.

“Haha, Yörn added your name to the banned people list?” That was so funny for her, her old friend from Germany was still picking on Sakaki.

“Yes, he did. So call him. And order him to remove my name from it and to not. Perform. On the festival.” She laughed a bit more what, for sure, made Tarou even more pissed off, and answered.

“Well, I can call him to ask him to remove you from the ban list but like, don’t you think it is a bit too much asking him to not perform since he is one of the organizers?” And that was all it took for Sakaki to lose his calm. On the next second he was shouting at her on phone explaining explicitly why Yörn was an asshole and why he should not be allowed to do anything anywhere. Tatsu already knew that, she knew how much of an asshole her friend was, that is why he was the only friend she had kept in touch with, because he was an asshole, so it did not matter how awful she was, he could handle it.

Tarou ended the call before she could answer. Nothing she could do about it, Tatsu would try to talk to Yörn to remove Sakaki form the ban list but the rest was up to him. She got up from the bed, took some of her new painkillers and answered Atobe with a quick text. That made her remember how good his lips felt the past day when she had only given him a quick kiss. She wanted more. She wanted so much more. But she promised herself she would take this slow, that she would let him set the pace on things because she loved him too much and she only wanted Atobe to be happy. Too bad resisting him was just so difficult. That boy always made her lose her self control, the way that he acted so full of himself all the time made she want to see him melt under her fingers. Not a good thought trail. She went to eat something and to take a shower, she had promised Atobe she would go to the hospital alone. And that she would allow the doctor to examine her. Before she could play Tennis again.

She passed the day preparing Atobe’s birthday gift, it would be on Wednesday but her plans starts tomorrow. Tatsu had passed a long time thinking about what to give to the boy and only yesterday she had made a decision. Giving him anything material would be useless, because he had all the money to get it anyway. When she finished preparing everything it was already 3 in the afternoon, she took a shower and left the house, trying to gather some courage to go to a hospital, on her own will.

It would be the first time she would be doing this. Even after all the surgeries from 5 years ago, she had just picked up the money she had left and went to Germany, trying to take Japan and all that had happened behind. Tatsu was very scared, but she would do it to try to become a better person. Atobe asked her to so she wanted to do it. Her hands were shaking slightly while driving to the hospital but the confession two days ago made her keep going steadily, he had called her a major idiot and said that he loved her despite of that. That was enough to make her continue.

She entered on the hospital and went straight to the reception. The nurses checked her records and led her to wait in a corridor near the doctor’s office. That was when the memories started. Tatsu realized reliving this memories with Atobe holding her, in his room, surrounded by his spell was something completely different than doing it on a cold hospital corridor, alone. When the executive started speaking on her mind she needed to leave. She hated herself for not being able to even visit a hospital but she needed to leave. She got up from the chair walking unsteadily and just went in any direction she assumed would take her off the place. Unfortunately she could not find the exit and her panic attack was just getting worst, she saw the window to the courtyard on the end of the corridor, since it was the first floor, Tatsu ran for it with the new scars on her stomach hurting but her head hurting even more due to the memories flooding her.

She jumped through the window fast and set on the floor, leaning on the wall behind her. When some minutes passed and her panic attack stopped, she focused on her surroundings, It was a really empty courtyard, with only a couple of trees and two boys making out around 30 meters from her. On the moment Tatsu noticed them, the boy that was leaning against the tree opened his eyes and saw her, still sitting on the floor, holding herself. She could not see well enough from the place she was but the other boy turned and started walking on her direction.

“I have never seen you on the hospital so I guess you are not supposed to be here either.” While the boy approached, she could finally see him clearly. He was not too much taller than her, he had a dark blue hair and his presence had some mellowness that reminded her of Syusuke.

Tatsu switched her eyes to the other boy, the one that was leaning on the tree while being made out with. And she was really surprised. She knew that boy. She had played Tennis against that boy. His name was somewhere inside her foggy memory but her head was still hurting too much from the panic attack for her to be able to remember. But he got closer to her and said.

“Tatsu-san, what.. are you doing here?” She could see how he was embarrassed from the redness on his face, but his disheveled hair and clothes were a clear sign of what he had been doing. The blue haired boy spoke to his taller boyfriend.

“Do you know this girl, Genichirou?”

Sanada, that was the name of the taller boy. He explained to Tatsu and to the other boy how they met, and introduced them. The pretty looking boy was Seiichi Yukimura, Rikkaidai’s captain. Tatsu heard about him from Tezuka and from Atobe, an amazing player with an almost incurable disease. Yukimura spoke to her after the introductions.

“So, Tatsu-san, what were you doing there?” The appearance of the two boys had made her forget a bit about her panic attack, so she got up fast trying to appear completely fine.

“Let’s just say I don’t deal well with hospitals. It would be nice if you two don’t ask more about it, so I won’t need to ask more about what were you doing here.” Sanada’s face acquired two more shades of red but Yukimura just laughed.

“I can sympathize with not dealing well with hospitals and I will give you a break since you defeated my Vice-captain in a match.”

Tatsu looked at the clock, she was late for her appointment, that brought Atobe’s face to her head and she felt awful for not fulfilling what he asked her to do. “You were fine when we played against each other, did you get hurt?” She was going to lie but then she remembered what Tezuka had told her about the Yukimura boy, how he was struggling to be alive, the exact opposite from her, she wanted to die, she still wanted to die.

“I got hurt protecting a friend, so now I need to see the doctor until I can be cleared to practice Tennis again.” Yukimura had an angry expression directed to her, it was clear from his fragile body and pale expression how staying at the hospital was affecting him.

“If you can practice why don’t you just go see the doctor?“ Before she could answer a doctor saw them form the window to the courtyard and started speaking.

“Lucky me, I find both my patients on the same place. Could you two come upstairs to my office so I can examine you, Tatsu-san and check the testing results with you Yukimura-san?”

The doctor was talking too much with her on the way to his office, Yukimura and Sanada just followed behind in silence. She got examined first, much of her panic had passed due to the talk with the two boys earlier. That boy made Tatsu think. He was fighting his best to survive, to be able to keep playing Tennis and she was trying to throw all of that away, of course the life perspective between both were completely different but it still made her think. The consult ended quickly, they left the office with the doctor telling her the results, Yukimura and Sanada were sitting outside, waiting.

“Tatsu-san, luckily you did not have any internal damage with the burnings or the hit you suffered, so if you rest for the next 2 days you can start some light practice on Thursday. Also I had opportunity of seeing the scars on your arms when you arrived at the hospital and if you are interested there are plastic treatments...” She interrupted him.

“I am not interested in any treatment for my scars, thank you.” She turned and left the room, giving a nod to the two boys sitting on the waiting chairs. The hospital still made her feel really uneasy and talking to that blue haired boy made her feel even worst with herself. She wanted to have his will to live, she really did. When she saw Atobe waiting for her near his car she ran on his direction and hugged him, she was only able to breath properly again when his arms were around her body.

 

“What’s up? Not that I complain for you to be hugging me out of nowhere, but tell me why are you like this.” Atobe had come to pick Tatsu up in the hospital, after his normal training and take her back to her house to coach Fuji and Ryoma. She refused to stop coaching the Seigaku boys even being hurt, so he would be there to make sure she would not hurt herself doing it. The girl had come running from inside the hospital and hugged him, there were some people around staring but he did not care. She was breathing near his neck and facing away from him.

“Tell me what is the problem. Come on, Neko-chan.” She took some time, but spoke quietly on his neck. “I talked with Yukimura Seiichi for a couple of minutes.” He did not understand on the spot what she means with that but soon it became clear to him.

“I met the Yukimura guy, and he was pale, and thin and… He still had a fire on his eyes. He is trying to live, Atobe. And I am doing the exact opposite, having the opportunity to live. Just how awful is that?” His arms hugged Tatsu tightly.

“Hn, idiot, just for having those feelings makes you not awful at all. The situations of you two are different, so even if you feel bad about it, you can do better. I am here, I will allow you to do better.” She still did not move on his arms, she just stayed close to his neck, without looking up. He pulled her hair a bit, to try to make her turn and look at him, but she still did not move.

“Tatsu! Turn this way.” She murmured something near his neck, it may have been a “why”.

“Turn this way now, so I can kiss you.” He could feel the girl laughing, but soon she looked up.

“You know, Atobe, if you tell me you are going to kiss me, the act itself loses half of the fun.” He used his right hand to pull her chin up and kissed her.

The kiss was very soft, just a touch of the lips but, for that moment, it was enough for Atobe. He took her home and stayed during the beginning of the practice. Echizen complained a bit but his mood seemed to change suddenly when Tatsu discussed something about Tezuka’s birthday with him. Atobe pretended to not care so he did not let the others know how curious he was what she would be giving him as a birthday gift. He normally did not care about people giving him gifts, but it was Tatsu, and his birthday was 3 days before Tezuka’s, two days from that moment and she still had not said anything about it.

His mind passed the entire night and the next day thinking about it. On the next morning, Tatsu was there to coach the Tennis club, his birthday was on the next day and she did not comment anything with him. He swallowed his pride and went to talk with her about his birthday but she only smiled at him with that devil like smile, that now she used so much, and did not say anything about the subject in hand. The girl and Sakaki-sensei passed the entire day clearly avoiding each other, Tatsu did not seem concerned at all, though, she picked up her things, gave Atobe a light kiss on the cheek, ignored all the raging fangirls and went home.

Atobe went home and tried to do his normal training routine but curiosity was still killing him. He tried to do the new server practice Tatsu had passed him on the previous weekends but the girl’s devilish smile was still stuck on his head. He cursed the fact that everything she did affected him so much. When it was almost 11 pm and he was on his room, listening to classical music, his phone rang, it was her.

“Let’s go out.” Was all he heard when he picked up the phone, no greeting no explanation just that sentence.

“What do you mean go out? Go out where? Do you know how late it is?” There was a laugh on her side of the phone and she answered.

“I asked your mother already to borrow you for a couple of hours, let’s go. You have… 15 minutes to meet me on the main entrance.” And she turned off the call.

He wanted to not go, and just be stubborn and made her explain everything, since when she had talked with his mother? But Atobe took off his black robe and picked up the first clothes he saw, before he was done fixing his hair, the phone was already beeping again. He took a quick glance and it was Tatsu saying his 15 minutes were already over. He picked his personal phone and rushed downstairs.

Tatsu was leaning on her car, looking at the watch, when he arrived she opened the side door and entered on the driver’s place.

“Let’s go or we will be late.”

“Hn, late to what? Where are we going?” Atobe asked while entering the car, she ignored him, turned the vehicle on and left his house.

It did not matter how many times Atobe asked her where were they going, Tatsu just focused on the road ahead of her. It was very late and she was not taking him anywhere closer to the city so there were almost no lights on the road, the drive was fast, in less than 10 minutes she parked the car somewhere, he could see large vegetation on both sides of the road, looked a lot like his house’s green fences but it seem they did not have any care for a while.

“Where we are? I can’t see anything.” He tried asking again.

“You gonna know soon, now let’s go.” She picked up a bag from the back seats of the car and stood her hand to him.

He picked her hand and started strolling behind her. Tatsu took a flashlight from her bag and used it to light the way so she could open a small gate in front of them.

“Careful where you step.” She whispered.

“Just where the fuck are we?” Atobe was already mad, just where was that girl taking him? The place was only illuminated by the moon’s light and the small flashlight on Tatsu hand, he could see in the distance a big mansion and they seemed to be walking through a grass field, in front of them there seemed to be some different plants and a wall with some structures. She walked a few steps and used the flashlight on the wall on their side and seemed to be looking for something there.

“Just what are we doing, Tatsu? Where is this place? Why did you take me here?”

“I just need to find the light switch, it was here somewhere, found it!”

The moment she pressed the switch, Atobe finally saw where they were. It was a huge garden, bigger than the one on his house, it was not very well taken care off but it was still amazing to look at. There was an immense variety of flowers roses, orchids, daisies and a lot more all set in beautiful patterns. Whoever put this garden together was a great designer, he though. Then she felt some similarity with something he had seen before and he discovered where they were.

“Here, it is your family’s house isn’t it, Tatsu?” She tighten the grip on his hand and answered:

“Not anymore, but yes, this was my mother’s garden. I thought that taking you to a nice place would be better than giving you any material gifts, so I took you here… Also, I made a cake and brought your favorite non-alcoholic champagne. I wanted to make a nice date for us since we didn’t go out last Saturday, I hope it is...” Atobe interrupted her with a kiss.

He was emotionally affected by all of this. He really didn’t expect Tatsu would bring him here, on the garden he had seen on the painting. It was such a beautiful place and her standing by his side, holding his hand and blabbing about his gift in the middle of it was even more beautiful. Their lips touched and she took a slight second to react but soon the flashlight was on the floor and her hands were already messing his hair, illuminated by the moonlight. Their mouths opened and they finally kissed properly one more time. Atobe wanted to hug her closely and let his hands travel on her back but she was still wearing her backpack so he let his hands hold her hips.

They stopped the kiss when there was an alarm coming from his phone, letting them know it was midnight. Tatsu opened her eyes and said:

“Happy Birthday, Atobe, I love you.” He smiled to himself and arched his eyebrows a bit.

“I know you do.” He went to kiss her again but she let go of his hand and took some stuff of her backpack. She took a picnic towel and set it on the floor, made a motion for him to sit down, what they both did. The next thing was a champagne bottle that was quickly opened by her. Atobe served two glasses for them while she took a small cake that was inside a box in her backpack, the cake was completely silver and had golden little crowns on top.

“I am not very good at baking sweets so…” She started saying but the only thing she heard in response was:

“Little crowns?” A smile passed on her face while she picked up her glass and put a two candles with a 1 and a 5 on them on top of the cake.

“Yes, so you can match it with your stupid band aid and take it to your retarded Kingdom.”

He did not answer. Atobe was just thinking how that small date was one of the happiest moments of his life. He watched while she lighted up the candles and showed him the cake. He blew the fire thinking about his wish and then gave her a quick kiss. Tatsu set the cake back down but Atobe interrupted her when she was deciding how to cut it.

“Feed me.” She had a really surprised expression on her face.

“What?” Now it was his time to smile.

“It’s my birthday, so I want you to feed me the cake.” For the first time he could clearly see a blush on her cheeks.

“Why should I feed you?” He couldn’t resist on teasing the older girl. “Because I am asking you to, but if you don’t feel capable of doing it...” She grabbed a fork, took a small piece of the cake and pointed it to his face, turning her head to the other side.

“Don’t be shy.” He said taking a bite of it. She turned back a bit to watch his reaction to the taste. “It’s good. Give me more.” He whispered while opening his mouth and closing his eyes, waiting for more cake.

“Sure.” Was what Atobe heard, but he did not receive any piece of cake on his mouth. Tatsu kissed him. Her hands held his face close and she was leaning over him. He was quick at using one of his arms as support and his other hand was on her long black hair. It was only them at that moment , they kissed for long minutes until Atobe pulled her closer and she fell on his lap, she broke the kiss and stared intently on his eyes. The look she gave him showed that his worries about not being able to tease her were unfounded. He could see just how much she wanted to keep kissing him right now and maybe even more. She pulled her head back and cursed under his breath.

“What is it, Tatsu?” The girl did not answer, she just tried to put more distance between them, but his arm was still holding her on his lap.

“Atobe...” He set straight, making her settle more over him, and passed his other hand through her neck.

“Call me Keigo.” Tatsu moved her head a bit, giving him more area to touch on her neck.

“Keigo...” On his ears, his name being whispered like that was the sexiest thing in the world.

“Let me go, Keigo.”

“Why should I? You tease me all the time.” A smile passed through her lips and next he knew she had pushed him and he fell with his back on the picnic towel. Atobe expected a kiss, but it did not come. The girl’s mouth went for his neck and she kissed, nipped, licked it until everything Atobe could do was grab her hair and fail to keep his sighs and even some moans to himself. After some minutes she let him go and got up from laying on him. His shirt had three buttons opened, his hair was a complete mess and he was breathing really heavily. Tatsu picked up her champagne glass and took a sip while telling him.

“You are going to need more than one ridiculous Band-Aid to hide that tomorrow, Keigo.”

They ate a bit and she took him back home before 3 am because according to her she had promised his mother he would be back home by that time. Atobe passed the short drive home thinking about what he had wished when blowing the candles. It was normally unlucky to tell wishes but when she parked in front of his house and he leaned to give her a goodnight kiss, he whispered: “My wish was for you to be by my side next year, and for the years to come.”

 

##### Chapter 9.5: **A gift?**

Ryoma cursed himself for having agreed to this idea. He was freezing to death waiting for Tezuka to come pick him up. On the airport. In Germany. Fuck Tatsu for giving him this idea for his captain’s birthday and fuck him for agreeing. Now he was freezing on an airport in Germany. Tatsu had messaged him Tezuka should come pick his gift up soon. So he should just stand there and look like a gift. When he decided to leave that spot and search for someplace warmer he heard a voice he had missed a lot. “Echizen? What are you doing here?” He did not know what to answer, he had missed his captain and he just wanted to go and give him a hug, his lack of response made Tezuka keep speaking.

“Tatsu told me to come to the airport to pick up my gift but what are you doing here?” Ryoma whispered in a really low voice:

“I am your gift...”  
  
“What Echizen, I did not hear?” And that was all it took for his patience to wear of and he shout in the middle of the airport: “I am your gift, Buchou!”


	10. A Switchblade Seranade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More people from hers and Sakaki's past. A breakdown from recovering a memory.

_  
_ Atobe was having a great day. He didn’t care that everybody on the school was asking if wearing a scarf was a new trend or something, it was his birthday and he was feeling great after the late night date, even the lack of sleep did not bother him. He still had not seen Tatsu today, but she would come for the afternoon training. When he was walking to the courts before the practice more fans arrived to give him gifts and birthday wishes, as always, he accepted all of them with a smile. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tatsu entering her office, she gave him a smile when she saw his scarf.

He left all the gifts he had received with Kabaji and went to follow Tatsu. She did not show any jealousy towards his fan girls, something he was thankful for, actually, the fan girls seemed to be too scared to bother her at all. He entered her office and she was already turned to his direction expecting he would follow her inside.

“You cannot use a scarf while playing Tennis.” Was what she pointed out, smiling at him.

“Hn, I know, I did not manage to cover it with Band-Aid’s, though.” The girl approached him and removed his scarf, he remembered, from looking at the mirror in the morning, that the right side of his neck had turned into a red and purple mess, there were hickies all over the place. She touched him and he said:

“Do not regret it… I liked it. Just, next time, do it on a day I don’t have classes afterward. And, I wanna do it on you.”

Tatsu picked up a med care kit from over her table and started to pass some ointment on Atobe’s neck.

“You can do it. On me.” She said without looking up, his cheeks flushed a bit, if they were not at school he would have done it right there but he let her finish on putting a large bandage on his neck, she smirked to him.

“Done, now you can go practice without showing your pretty neck to anyone, I will get the schedule from today and meet you outside.” He gave her a light smirk while leaving the room.

“It will be you hiding your neck, next time.”

The next days passed in a rush for Atobe, the only alone time he got with Tatsu was on Sunday when they practiced his Tannhauser serve, but even then, his mother kept appearing mid practice to tell embarrassing stories about him. Tatsu always seemed to have something to talk with him about also, she had passed the week arguing with Sakaki-sensei about their field trip and more than once he saw them being mad at each other. When he asked her what was happening she would just give some quick explanation that Sakaki was being unreasonable but he did not have any time to ask her more about it. He had passed the week solving student council business he had left to do because of the busy two weeks with Tatsu, and she was training Fuji and Ryoma even more since the Kanto finals was getting closer each day.

Today, Monday, they would have some time. She invited him to pass at her house after her practice with Fuji since Ryoma was still in Germany until the next day. Tomorrow also they would have the field trip the girl and Sakaki-sensei argued so much about. He finished some business at his office at school and went straight to her house. When he arrived, Fuji was leaving the place, Atobe gave a short nod to the Seigaku player and went in.

Tatsu greeted him, still with her practice uniform on, she told him she would go upstairs to take a shower. Atobe passed the next 20 minutes trying to focus on reading his e-mail inbox on the phone but his thoughts always went back to Tatsu, taking a shower. She went downstairs fast and gave him some Hyotei practice uniform.

“You left it here, after last time when you flooded my bathroom.” She had washed and dried his uniform, but what catches his attention was the girl itself. Standing in front of him with her arms and legs bare, she was with shorts and a large shirt but no socks, or bandages. He was already used to her scars so, in his eyes, she looked very hot in front of him at that moment, maybe it was his teenage hormones speaking after not having touched his girlfriend for a couple of days.

“If you mind I will go back upstairs to put the bandages on, it was just really warm today...” Atobe did not let her finish, he pulled her arms in his direction and kissed her, she ended up leaning on the couch’s direction since he had been sitting there. He took that opportunity to let his hands travel on her hips and legs over the really tight black shorts she was wearing, while the girl was messing his hair. He needed her to be closer so he laid on the couch pulling Tatsu with him, she laid over him, breaking the connection between their mouths and let her face snuggle on his neck when he was breathing hard from their heated kisses.

“I, actually, have something to tell you.” Tatsu said, still snuggling on his neck.

“Hn, just say it then. I may kiss you again if you don’t.” Atobe felt her laughing a bit on his neck, damn, how he loved how her body felt over his or her breath on him.

“Tarou and I have been fighting this past days because an old… Friend of ours is the one organizing the musical festival you guys will go on a field trip to.” She seemed to be thinking carefully on the words she would use.

“Just say it, already, Tatsu.”

“I don’t know how to do this serious relationship stuff so like if I say this on a mean way you tell me the best way to say it next time.” Her voice was still muffled on his neck so he pulled her head to the side so they were staring at each other.

“Tatsu...”

He could feel just how close she was from giving up on the story and kissing him again. But she closed her eyes and got up from the couch. Atobe kept staring at her, so she turned her head to the side before speaking.

“The person Tarou hates, I used to sleep with him. And tomorrow, during the field trip, my job will be guaranteeing Tarou does not murder him.”

A lot of things passed through Atobe’s mind at that moment but the most important information was Tatsu would be talking to some guy she used to sleep with. Some guy she used to sleep with. The smile instantly left his face and an annoyed expression appeared in it’s place. Why did she need to talk with that guy? What had Sakaki-sensei to do with it? Thousands of questions passed on his mind but he asked the most prominent one. “Who is this guy?”

Tatsu set on the arm of the couch he was laying on, before she started talking. “He is a German musician called Yörn, I met him on Japan some years ago. He was someone that helped a lot when I was… Just after my parents died and stuff. Even not knowing anything about what had happened, he still helped me.”

Atobe thought for a couple of seconds, he was jealous, obviously, and he also disliked the guy already, but this was the point he had to trust her, like she trusted him. He understood she was being completely open with him and he respected her a lot for that. He set on the couch and stood his arm to touch Tatsu’s face. “Thank you for clarifying things, now come back here so I can kiss you senselessly and try to forget that someone else touched you before I did.”

The girl smiled and went to sit besides him on the couch, they kissed once more. Atobe ended up laying over her chest while she laid back on the couch and caressed his hair. “Oya, Tatsu, just one thing, why does Sakaki-sensei hates this guy?” She thought a bit before she answered.

“There are, probably, two main reasons. First is that back when Sakaki was engaged, his fiance slept with Yörn. And the second reason is that, anh, I was underage when me and him slept together for the first time, and Tarou knows that. His personality is pretty hate-able also.”

“Right now, I hate him as well.” Atobe let his thoughts out. He wished to just make Tatsu be only his, he knew how possessive that sounded but why did she need to have had other guys before him? And why did she need to talk with them again? When she gave no answer he continued speaking. “He had you and that annoys me. I don’t care about age and about Sakaki-sensei but he had you before.” He put his head and arms up until he was straddling Tatsu.

“You have me now.” She answered, staring directly on his eyes above hers.

“I know.” Atobe knew how spoiled he was being, but he loved her and he was a spoiled rich boy in the end. He gave her a quick kiss and his lips went to her exposed neck in which he gave a light kiss. The collar of her shirt was on the way so one of his hands opened two of the buttons while he kept kissing her neck, Atobe felt really tempted on opening the rest of the buttons, but he would leave that area for next time, his objective today was her neck. Just kisses did not make her have any reaction so he decided to give her a slight nip and the moan he heard was instant. He kept on it for long minutes, when he was satisfied about how breathless Tatsu was he just got up from the couch, fixed his clothes, said a quick Goodnight and left her house with a smirk on his face.

Atobe had woken up on next morning with an awful headache and that still persisted until that moment. The message he received from Tatsu in the morning did not help at all, the fact she would be talking with someone she had slept with kept staying on his head. Due to that this field trip was being really terrible for him, at least Sakaki-sensei was in a bad mood as well so he could, somehow, feel better with himself.

Half of the day passed and he still had not seen Tatsu anywhere. They had watched classical musical, Japanese folklore music and even some pop he did not know but still no sign of Tatsu or her friend. Atobe thought about sending another message to her but he had already sent 4 of them on the past hour, she answered every single one but, since he did not want to sound jealous, he didn’t ask anything much. When they were approaching the lunch area he heard a large shout from inside.

“You piece of fucking shit! You cheated!” It was a deep voice that spoke Japanese with a very heavy accent.

He heard Sakaki-sensei sigh in front of their group, another teacher got close to him and asked: “Sakaki-san, is everything alright? You stopped walking out of nowhere.”

“Yes, I am just gathering my patience so I do not murder anyone today.”

Atobe went to the front of the group, entering the restaurant together with his music teacher. He could clearly see Tatsu, sitting some meters away facing the door, she was using a turtleneck and that made him imagine how was her neck looking today. She had a bored expression and was staring at someone that had his back turned to him. Atobe could see the person was not wearing a shirt and had long blond hair.

“You know, Yörn, if you shout a bit louder someone 10 kilometers from here may hear us, also.” Tatsu said with a monotone voice and let out a yawn. So that shirtless figure was the Yörn, the person she had slept with before, why was he shirtless, Atobe asked himself. Just looking at the guy made him want to go tell him to stop speaking with his girlfriend.

“I should have imagined you would not bet that if you were not cheating. I fell for it once, Lolita, but it won’t happen again.” The blond figure pointed at Tatsu, while answering, she did not seem to have any reaction.

“That is why I will not be playing next matches, I am happy enough with what I won already.” She gave a light smirk to the man in front of her. Sakaki-sensei started going on their direction, why was that man calling his Tatsu, Lolita? He got so annoyed with that that he followed just behind his teacher. A servant arrived at Tatsu’s table bringing some drinks and Atobe heard another female voice that seemed to be with them.

“The drinks arrived, now you two can stop fighting.” It was Yumiko Fuji-san, she was sitting by the side of the blond man that still seemed to want to pick a fight with Tatsu.

“Yep, the drinks, so Lolita can be a pussy and not drink at all with us.”

At that moment Sakaki-sensei got close enough to the table to say his orders. “Can the kids control their language?”

The three people sitting turned on their direction, and Atobe could see clearly the blond man now. He had piercings over his face and tattoos on his neck, chest, and arms, he had a blond beard cut really close to his face that, added to his blond hair and blue eyes, gave him an 80’s rocker look, the captain of Hyotei decided he disliked the guy even more. When Tatsu saw them, she gave Atobe a smile and looked with a worried expression to Sakaki-sensei. He moved and stood next to Tatsu, not caring of the 80’s rocker staring at him when he passed his arm around Tatsu’s shoulder and set besides her. The blond man finally spoke, first to Sakaki and next to Tatsu.

“Tarou, I will tell you to go fuck yourself in a second. But first, you are dating one of his students? So he is not only underage but he is one of his rich bitchy students? Come on, Lolita, tell me I am wrong, please.” The girl was quick to answer.

“Keigo, this is Yörn, he is a bit annoyed because I beat him in poker.” Atobe did not care for introductions to someone like him, he could see his Sensei had already left their table to go gather his patience up, so he did not need to try to be polite.

“Why are you calling my girlfriend Lolita?”

Yörn answered him with a smile that made Atobe’s blood go boiling.

“Don’t you think she looks like a Lolita? Very pretty, but so so evil on the inside, she would love to torture poor souls. And it makes you want to have her for you, doesn’t it?” B efore he could answer those allegations he felt Tatsu’s arm in front of him and heard her voice saying:

“ Enough, Yörn.” The blond man fell back on his couch laughing, Atobe had been so close of getting up and releasing his anger, the man started speaking in the middle of his laughs.

“I just could not contain myself, sorry Lolita.” Tatsu turned to him and said.

“Sorry for this, Keigo, he is the kind of person that likes to see everything on fire.” He still was mad at the man specially the way he laughed, like nothing mattered, like he could say that to his girlfriend and nothing would happen.

“It doesn’t matter what he likes, I want him to not speak with you on that manner ever again. And do not. Call her. Lolita”

When he said that, the blond man looked at him, assuming his serious posture.

“Good, maybe you are good enough to be the person Tatsu trusted her heart to. Nice to meet you I am Yörn Stein.” Atobe did not know how to act, why did that man act like that? It was like his presence was only there for making others lose their calm. Before any more conversation passed some female students from Hyotei approached Yörn and started asking him about his musical career, the girls were begging him to sing something, Atobe was rolling his eyes when he felt Tatsu lean her head on him.

“You seem tired, Neko-chan.” He whispered to her. She closed her eyes while leaning on him.

“I am. I will tell you after the practice today, can you pass at my house?” He wanted to, he really wanted to but his parents would be returning to England tomorrow and he had business to solve with them after practice.

“I can’t today.” The girl leaned more on him and answered him with a simple smile.

* * *

  
Tatsu was tired. She knew from start that Yörn would not come to Japan only for a music festival, he hated Japan, he hated how the people on Japan had a pretense politeness about themselves, so he needed a better reason to be here. She thought it was a simple business deal or any woman he had been obsessed with, but no. He had came to talk to her. He had came because he needed a favor from her. It was nothing that would directly affect her relationship with Atobe, but it would need for her to get in touch with someone she really wanted to avoid. Why in the end those two had to stay together for some time, Tatsu asked herself. Why was Yörn involved on it as well. She had three options now; she could speak with Sakaki about it and let him throw a rage fit on her for not having told about the executive and what he did in her past; she could tell Yörn, one of her only friends, that stayed by her side through her worst years, that she would not be able to help him; or she could go and try to solve it alone.

She looked once more at Yörn and Yumiko laughing, she admired how the blond man could fake emotions that easily, he would never let anyone be worried for him or show them his weakness, but Tatsu knew, she knew how bad he was feeling inside. He would never ask her for help if he wasn’t. She should not depend on Atobe again to solve her problems, she would be able to do this on her own, it did not matter the ties those people had to her past. And she would, technically, not need to talk with the executive just with… that woman. The cultural festival ended before she noticed, Atobe had to return to his field trip group after the few minutes they set together. Like he promised, Yörn did not sing anything on that day. She waited for Yumiko to go home before she approached the blond man.

“I will talk with her for you.” She said that sentence fast while looking at him in the eyes. It didn’t matter how much she was scared that she would end up seeing people she did not want to see. Her friend asked her for help and she needed to do it. A relief passed through Yörn’s face, he did not answer her but she knew he appreciated. When she turning on her car to go to Hyotei for the Tennis practice, she looked at her phone to find a message from her friend.

“When you look at me like that, Lolita, I see the girl I met all those years ago in your eyes. Thank you for being my friend, even after everything.”

Tatsu went to do her normal coaching, first at Hyotei and then to Syusuke and to a very happy Ryoma after his short trip to Germany. She tried her best to not let her anxiety appear but she could see Atobe was giving worried looks on her direction constantly during practice. When Syusuke and Ryoma left her home it was her time to go solve Yörn’s problem. She took a quick shower and put some jeans and a hooded jacket on, it was best if no one recognized her on the way there. She went on foot to a busier part of the town, where she remembered the woman’s apartment was located. In the entire way there it crossed her mind how Yörn seemed desperate when he talked with her earlier, she knew he could have tried to solve this by himself but this was not his style. If he had any problem with women he would just leave, not try to solve or fix anything, but leave. This time, though, it was possible some little part of him was with this woman and it needed to be with this specific woman, Tarou’s ex. fiance.

She reached her apartment in a few minutes, it was past eight, she picked up her phone and took a deep breath, now was the time her convincing skills would be put to use. The  phone rang twice and Tatsu finally heard a woman’s voice on the other side.

“Hello, who is speaking?” The voice made her head spin, it has been a long time she had not heard that pretentious girly tone Shizuru always used.

“It’s Tatsu, I am at your apartment building, need to speak with you.” There was a big pause on the other side of the line.

“I am sorry, Tatsu-chan, but I have nothing to discuss with you or with any of your friends, if you want to sue me, please contact my lawyer.”

“It is not about what you think it is, this is not about my… brother” It hurts to say that word, her chest tightened and she was nauseous, but she needed to finish this so she kept speaking. “This is not about Akihiko, it will be fast, let me in.” There was no response on the other side of the line but the gate in front of her opened.

The girl went up three rows of stairs, taking the elevator would make her even more anxious, arriving at the third floor, the apartment door was already opened. Tatsu rushed for it, trying to not let any of the security cameras directly catch her face, she did not knew if Shizuru still had connections with that executive so she needed to be cautious. In the end the best would be if the executive never knew of her presence there today, that he would not do anything to jeopardize her brother for it. She entered the apartment closing the door behind her.

Shizuru Saitou was standing, leaned on the entrance corridor on her apartment. She was still as beautiful as Tatsu’s memory recorded. Her long dark brown hair was held in a bun on top of her head, her porcelain white skin was emphasized by the pastel pink dress she wore. The dress did not hide how luscious her body was, a perfect Japanese lady. Tatsu removed the hood from her jacket and stared at the woman in front of her, she had many memories of her, how she tended to despise anyone that would not give her benefits, how she slept with Yörn while still engaged with Tarou, how he had drank himself until passing out and how he still blamed Yörn for everything until that day. She also remembered how that woman had switched for that executive, after Tarou broke up with her, how she still had contact with Tatsu’s brother, probably until this day. Shizuru was, probably, thinking the younger girl was there to sue her for her participation or to blame her for her actions. The apartment was impeccably cleaned and the floor almost shined below Tatsu’s feet.

“What do you want?” The older woman asked Tatsu. She leaned on the door behind her back, before answering.

“Will you use it to harm my friends?” She needed an answer, that woman disgusted her, she just wanted to leave that place having solved Yörn’s problem. The girly voice spoke again.

“What do you mean?” That annoyingly faked like voice kept hurting her head, she needed to solve that quick before she had another panic attack.

“Yörn told me. You are pregnant. He also told me he slept with you on the possible period and I know it is not out of the helm of possibilities you, also, having slept with Tarou on the same period, so. Will you. Use it. To hurt. My friends?”

Shizuru lost her brave expression. The porcelain woman lost her posture and started screaming with the girl in front of her. Tatsu knew, this was her true form.

“Who do you think you are to talk with me like that? You have nothing! Nothing! I opened the door because I felt pity for you and you say that to me? Go away! Leave my apartment! Now!” It was easier for Tatsu to deal with her like this. That anger showed her the information she had about the older woman was right, it was, almost, too convenient for her. Also, that lack of calm possibly signified that the executive was not behind her actions, not anymore. If he had anything to deal with that the older woman would have more control. With that, Tatsu knew she had the advantage so she simply asked again.

“Will you use it to hurt my friends?”

Tatsu felt her back being pressed to the door. Shizuru had caught her by the shoulders and was forcing her, trying to do harm. The older woman was crying, messing up her perfect make-up. Tatsu kept speaking.

“Stop this. I am stronger than you and you know it. I came here and you opened the door for me, I did not hurt you or destroy any of your belongings and I have no reason to do it. I don’t care who you slept with or is planning to sleep with, I really don’t. I just don’t want you to use that fetus to hurt my friends.” Shizuru’s hands left her shoulders, the doll like woman fell to the floor, still crying, the black tears, dyed from her make-up, stained the perfectly clean floor of the apartment. Tatsu did not move at all, she had no reason to feel sorry for the woman in front of her.

Shizuru continued crying for a long time before she could speak again.

“It is a baby… Don’t call it fetus.” Tatsu just twisted her mouth with an annoyed expression, that conservative Japanese mind always bothered her but she let the other continue.

“It is not Yörn’s child… Or Tarou’s… I haven’t seen Tarou since the day he broke our engagement. He was pretty clear he did not want to see me again.” She felt relief receiving that news. So the woman could not hurt her friends. But if it wasn’t from any of them why was her so bothered because of it? Tatsu did not need to ask, because Shizuru kept speaking.

“It is his child… You know who I am talking about… It’s Ohno’s child. He left me! But it is his child.”

Just hearing that name made Tatsu lose all the strength on her legs, the pain in her head went to a warning level and she felt like she would pass out anytime. The woman in front of her kept crying while sitting on the floor but the only thing on Tatsu’s head was that man’s name. It had been easier for her to hide his identity behind a role, it had been easier to hide him behind -The executive- title, but hearing his name made his actual face come to back to Tatsu’s mind, he was not a blurred image anymore, he was not a made up monster on her head. He was an actual person and that scared her even more. Her survival instinct had hidden his name and his face so back then Tatsu would not break, even hearing his voice did not matter as long as he was just a blurred image on her mind. But he was not only it anymore.

Tatsu felt pity for the woman in front of her for the first time. She was also used by someone, after years of using men to try to get the most comfortable possible lifestyle, she was used. By the worst possible person, and now she would bear his child. Just thinking about that made her almost fall to the floor. She needed to be strong, it did not matter if the woman in front of her suffered, she could not let her pain show, that woman was still someone to be careful with. So Tatsu tried to speak.

“I did not know...” Shizuru interrupted her.

“I don’t need your pity! Just leave! Get out of my life and never appear again!”

Memories about the executive, Mr. Ohno, kept destroying Tatsu’s will and strength. She managed to write down her phone number in a piece of paper and throw to the older woman. It didn’t matter how awful she was, she was hurt by the same man that harmed her, that was enough to, at least, pass her the phone number, it was what Tatsu thought. She left Shizuru’s apartment, still leaning on the wall for support. Her head was exploding with the man’s face and of the interactions he had with her parents before they passed away. Her father asked Mr. Ohno to dance with her in a ball, her mother having her painting’s complimented by him and her brother, Akihiko standing on that hospital room while Mr. Ohno had his hand on his shoulder. Mr. Ohno giving a nod of approval every time her brother spoke about how he never wanted to see her again. How it was her fault.

When Tatsu reached the street she puked on the floor. Everything that had been bottled up in her body went out, it was the worst panic attack she ever had, just having him as a nameless monster made her feel better and now she did not have even that little shelter. She almost passed out again when another memory of that man came to mind but something stopped her. Atobe. His voice passed through her had. He saying -it would not hurt her anymore-, the feel of his arms around her and how he kissed her. That simple thing made her stand, she could not pass out there, she had told him she would try to get better, she had promised him with her actions, with her kisses and her touches. That she would get better, that she would pass through that. That she would be able to survive so they could stay together. The Hyotei jacket came to her mind, she finally had a team. Not just two or three friends, but she had a team that needed her, that wanted her to teach them.

Those good memories made Tatsu stumble to the nearby wall, she picked up her phone and thought about who to call. Atobe was still on a business meeting with his parents, she would not bother him during it, it didn’t matter how close she was of breaking down right there, she would not interrupt his few interactions with both his parents. She knew how Atobe loved those moments, his parents passed most of their time outside Japan so it was a pleasure for him to have those kind of meetings with both of them. Her eyes went for the next option, Yörn, she clicked on the call button and waited. The phone rang for a minute but nobody picked it up, she tried again and got the same result. He was probably fucking someone. The panic attack waves came back and she puked again. There was nothing left inside her stomach only bile. Headache, smell and the awful taste in her mouth only made her feel worse, she took a few steps forward and tried to call Yörn again. No answer, the phone display showed it was already past two am, Tatsu had spent more time than she remembered on Shizuru’s apartment. She also saw the picture of her Hyotei’s jacket that was her wallpaper, that made her walk again.

Focusing her mind on Atobe and on all the happy memories he gave her, she dragged her body back the way she came. It was late and no one was on most of the streets so it didn’t matter how she was almost falling with each step or how she was puking bile and stomach liquid every few minutes. She saw some drunks passed out and some homeless men but they did not bother her, she was probably looking worst than them. The sun was rising when she finally reached her house, she used the garage control to open the gate and entered, Tatsu did not reach the front door before she passed out on the floor.

Tatsu felt her conscience returning with the ringing of her phone. She tried to move to pick it up and answer but her body was not following her wishes. She only was able to answer it on the third time it rang. Tarou’s voice could be heard on the other side of the line.

“Tatsu, finally you picked it up! You are late today and I needed to tell you our next tournament will be this Sunday, we leave on Saturday, two days from now, and go back on Monday, when will you arrive so I can tell you the other details? It will be on a farther away place and two days of tournament so I need your documents for the passing the night part.” He kept speaking until she finally gave a grunt in answer that he probably took as she would be there soon. Thinking about the tournament she was capable of getting up, their tournament this week, Kanto on the next. She needed to prepare everyone. She got inside the apartment and went to the bathroom on the lower floor, she let her body fall under the cold water trying to wake up. It would look like to anyone that she was just really hungover. At least she could use that as excuse.

She took a cab to reach the school, half hour later than her normal schedule, seeing the boys already training gave her the will to do better. Tatsu was lucky and Atobe did not see her arriving late, he was busy with student council business. She gave a lame excuse that she slept too much and everybody fell for it. Kabaji did give her a worried look but she pretended it was nothing. She saw Atobe arriving and made the decision that she would make them the best team in Japan. They would win the next two tournaments and she would do her best to help them. It did not matter that until the day they would travel, she could not sleep without having horrible nightmares about that man’s face or that anything she ate ended up being puked a few hours after. She would coach them. And when they entered the travel bus on Saturday she still had not told anyone about what happened.


	11. A skin that is finally healing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Repercussions of remembering an abuse.

#### A skin that is finally Healing

_"Paint yourself a picture_

_Of what you wish you looked like_

_Maybe then they just might_

_Feel an ounce of your pain"_

**Skin – Sixx A.M.**

 

Atobe set by his girlfriend’s side. She had been distant the past two days, he thought it was only the heavy workload that she had put herself through but there was a worry on the back of his mind all the time. If he had time he would have tried to make her feel better but he was also swarmed with extra work. He remembered the conversation he had with his parents on Thursday, it was not a normal business discussion, it was about Tatsu. His dad told him about the friendship he used to have with Tatsu’s father, Akihito Fujiwara, and about the Fujiwara company and what happened with it until this day. He did not tell his father how Tatsu was coerced to give up on her rights and her name, he needed permission from her before he would tell anyone else about it. But his father did suspect it. Atobe tried to extract the information that made that suspicion be possible but it was unsuccessful. So he added to his workload to research more about it. And he still needed to tell Tatsu about that, he imagined she would not be happy with the news he was researching her past but he justified it on his head saying it was to help her get back what was hers.

So he set down on the bench and Tatsu instantly leaned her head on him, no words were needed at that moment, he just passed his left arm around her while the bus was starting to move. Oshitari and Hiyoshi were sitting on the two armchairs on the right side of them so Atobe started a quick conversation with both about the strategies for the next day’s games and when he asked Tatsu for her opinion, he noticed she was already sleeping. Hiyoshi, the one that rarely tried to get in contact with others, said.

“She was looking like shit the past Friday, good that she is finally sleeping.” Atobe gave an angry look to Hiyoshi but Kabaji, turning from the armchair in front of them, also added.

“When I saw her on the cafeteria on Friday, she didn’t eat anything, maybe she is sick.” Soon Mukahi and Taki’s voice were also heard worrying for the girl. Atobe smiled but told them to stop speaking and let her sleep. Everybody was concerned for her well being, he really hoped she could feel how much they cared. He turned off the lights on the bus, watched her and caressed her hair until he also felt sleepy.

When he was finally drifting to the dream world he felt his body shaking, he opened one of his eyelids, still on a very sleepy state. Tatsu was shaking on his arms, there was sweat on her face and her breaths were really heavy. He took a second to react to that but then desperation got to him and he leaned the girl on the window on her side and tried to speak with her but she still seemed to be sleeping. She was having a panic attack while sleeping. Atobe did not know what to do, the light coming from the window showed him the pained face she was making, her mouth started moving and she whispered his name.

He held her face with both his hands and said back: “I am here, nothing bad will happen to you, I am here.” Her shaking subsided and she opened her eyes slightly, before any relief could reach him Tatsu hugged him, pulling him to her arms.

“Keigo, you are here, nothing harmed you.” She hugged him like her life depended on it. Atobe returned the hug, that girl always managed to worry so much for him.

“Your nightmares cannot hurt me, Neko-chan, and I won’t allow anything else to hurt you, I promise.” He felt her arms releasing him a bit and she leaned back on the window, looking at him on the moonlight.

“So, that is why you haven’t been sleeping or eating? Nightmares?” When he said that, the girl showed him a surprised expression and tried to soften his preoccupation.

“I am fine, this nightmares happen, it’s nothing to be worried about.”

“Liar.” Atobe whispered, moving his body to trap her near the window, she still insisted there was no need to worry about her. Their lips were really close, he felt she angling her head a bit to try to kiss him but he didn’t let her.

“Tell me what is the problem.”

“It is nothing much.” The girl answered, pulling his head to her, trying to complete the kiss, he did not move and said again.

“Tell me.”

Her gaze left his eyes, defeated. Atobe was starting to learn that she would always try to not worry him about her problems. But he needed to know, he loved her and he needed to know everything that bothered her.

“I just remembered something I should not. And it… scares me.” Her hands shake a bit just talking about it so he decided to let that go for now, he knew she trusted him so he would wait until she wants to speak about the subject.

“I am here with you, Tatsu, you don’t need to carry the world in your shoulders, I am here to help you.” A soft smile appeared on her face when he said that. Atobe couldn’t resist and gave her a light kiss on the lips before snuggling himself on her chest, trying to return to sleep.

“You are the cutest thing, Keigo.” He smiled and tried cuddling a bit against her clothes but the zipper on her Hyotei jacket was bothering him.

“I know I am amazing, but your zipper is annoying me, take it off.” Tatsu let out a small laugh for him being a spoiled boy, he didn’t mind, he liked being pampered by her. She opened her jacket and made motion for him to lay down again. Atobe snuggled against her chest, noticing her exposed cleavage, he wished they were on a more private place at that moment so he could explore that more but he contended in just falling asleep. He felt Tatsu hugging him back and sleeping also.

On Atobe’s dream Tatsu was laid on his arms only covered by a golden bed-sheet, she was telling him how he was much better than Yörn on everything he did, how amazing he was and how his mole was the sexiest thing she had ever seen. She materialized some clothes and Tezuka and Ryoma appeared on the dream, both dressed as butlers saying they would serve him after he defeated them in the nationals. He felt his body being moved a bit and a voice calling his name.

“Atobe-san...” He shifted a bit on his sleep, not wanting to be waken up on that amazing dream.

“Stop moving me, Tatsu said my mole is the sexiest thing she ever seen, and Oshitari and Hiyoshi will polish my shoes for a week because I am just so amazing.” He instantly got up from his doze when he felt a dash of cold liquid being splashed on his face.

“Stop babbling bullshit and wake up.” Atobe opened his eyes, the voice he heard was from Hiyoshi, after having just thrown a glass of water on his face.

“What the fuck did you do?” Was the first sentence he managed to speak before he noticed Tatsu was not laid down with him anymore. He heard Oshitari calling him.

“Atobe, just get up fast, Tatsu had to leave some time ago to fix the paperwork for the tournament and I gotta say, congrats to you for sleeping on that cleavage, I would never be able to properly sleep next to something as amazing as that.” Before he could get mad with the taller boy there was a voice coming from outside of the bus.

“Yuushi, you are gross!”

They all picked up their stuff from the bus, this time they would sleep there because there were also the final happening on Monday morning. According to the information Sakaki-sensei had passed the organizers of the tournament had provided places for all the teams to sleep but, since they also forgot to warn us about the tournament until 2 days ago, we should not expect anything good from those “accommodations”. The place was basically a big park, there were some wooden cottages around and a lot of bugs what made Atobe and some of the other Hyotei boys be a bit apprehensive, but they still went to the reception to meet with Tatsu.

When they entered, they saw Tatsu near the reception desk with a very annoyed expression, she was searching through a paper pile before she noticed and motioned for them to meet her outside. Atobe could feel how angry she was, she started speaking as soon as they arrived in a more isolated location.

“After 30 minutes of annoyance I managed to get the key for the cottage we will be staying at, yes, we, as a group because somehow they lost the information that I was a woman. Also it is on the tournament rules that we need to stay here so we cannot go somewhere else. And as the last problem, they also forgot to reserve the kitchen space and food for us so you guys make a list and I will pick up some stuff for lunch and we order dinner later. Any questions?” It was clear how pissed off she was so none of them said anything before Gakuto gave a shout.

“Oh my god! It’s a spider on you!” And went to hide behind Yuushi. Atobe went to stand behind Kabaji as well, he hated arthropods, for him, he went gracefully, for everybody else he also ran and hide.

While picking up the tiny spider that had gotten up her arm Tatsu gave them the most disappointed look what made Atobe try to do his most graceful pose, still hiding behind Kabaji. She let the little spider go in a tree nearby and turned back to them.

“I am really close to lose my temper right now. It does not happen a lot so I would advise you all to be really nice, and if I hear any shouts about tiny spiders this entire night I will make the perpetrator of it sleep outside.” Atobe approached her, taking his aromatic tissue from his Tennis bag.

“Here! Clean your hands so you don’t get any diseases for that hideous thing.” She rolled her eyes at him and went to their cottage direction.

They arrived on a tiny cottage that was, basically, falling to pieces, there was one bathroom with some showers. Atobe was already so annoyed he needed to stay there, he wanted to call home and ask for a better sleeping place, making him do something like that was outrageous. Tatsu left her stuff on the bed closest to the wall and went out of the room, giving them orders to put the practice clothes, make a list for lunch and meet her outside. They took around 20 minutes before their coach started knocking on the door, ordering them to go faster, all of them left the room and Atobe delivered to her a paper with their list for lunch. She picked up the list and passed her eyes through it before letting sigh out and saying:

“Roast Beef, salad with hand picked vegetables, non-caloric spaghetti… Where do you people think I am going to go for food? On a 5 star restaurant? God sake! The only sensible suggestions here is hamburgers and pizza, that I would guess is from Shishido and Mukahi. So let me give you all an idea, I pass on a Korean Barbecue that I saw is nearby and I bring everyone food from there, so things don’t get cold before I arrive here.” Atobe did not understand why he could not have his roast beef so he started a complaint about the girl’s idea.

“On those peasant type barbecues the meat is not always well prepared and it has a lot of fat so it would not fit well with my sensitive stomach so I should call my 5 star chef to prepare me a meal and ask for it to be delivered by helicopter here...” Tatsu did not have any reaction when he finished the sentence, Atobe felt like he had won the discussion so he grinned back to the girl. The piece of paper that was in her hand was smashed and instantly thrown on Atobe’s face.

“Our first game is on court 3, let’s go.”

Atobe did not understand her sudden bad humor but she only grunted when he asked anything. When they arrived at the designed court they could see the crowd watching would be as bad as on their last tournament, all booing and going against them. This time, there were some insulting signs, also. Most of them directed to rich boys or to Tatsu. She took her seat on the coach’s bench and they started the match. Gakuto and Hiyoshi went first but there was something wrong about their opponents. They were not good or anything but they seemed to be trying to directly hit Hyotei double. On the second time his leg is grazed by a Tennis ball, Gakuto complains and get s foul by the referee. Tatsu gets up from the bench as has a 20 second talk with the referee that, also, gives her a foul.

When she set back on the bench, Atobe could see how close she was of losing her calm, so he went close to her and put a hand on her shoulder, she put her hand over it for a bit and seemed to relax for a minute. But when Gakuto’s leg started bleeding from a Tennis ball cut, she got up again and talked with the referee. But he was not the one that answer. The coach from the other team, an adult that looked like a professional martial artist, from his build. “Your rich boy team cannot take Tennis, little girl?” Tatsu turned to him and Atobe moved to stop her from doing anything stupid but she only said one sentence and went back to her bench.

“Do not. Hurt. My team.” When she set back, he saw she was with a different look. It was the same look she had when she perfect his Tannhauser serve, no pain, simple hatred and calmness.

Mukahi and Hiyoshi won the game without biggest problems, Choutaro and Ootori also, even with some minor injuries. Yuushi would go next when Tatsu excused herself to go pick up their lunch, he finished the game quick to not suffer any injuries. Again, Hyotei was clearly way better than their opponents, even with the foul play the other team was using. She soon arrived with their lunch, they decided to eat outside the cottage like a picnic style. Atobe remembered the midnight picnic they had on her family’s garden but he didn’t say anything, she still seemed to be annoyed with the game. She had checked all the injuries of the ones that played on that day with concern, they were not seriously hurt at all but still it had been surprising that the other teams would do that kind of thing, even being supported by the referees.

“Hn, why does this take-out food don’t come with forks and knifes?” It was the first question Atobe made about the lunch.

“Because you don’t need them, Keigo.” Tatsu answered him, leaning on a tree nearby.

“Hn, but this pieces are not properly fitted to directly eating with the hashi.” He wanted her to talk more. It was like she was still containing her anger since the game, but he was not sure how to approach her now, even his amazing will did not help him when talking with his pissed off girlfriend. Tatsu only got up, giving an excuse she had to check something on the reception, and went out of their lunch area. Kabaji was the first one to speak.

“She did not eat.” When he checked what his friend had said he could see Tatsu’s plate was full, she had not even touched the food.

After a couple of minutes they started seeing people passing through them and going in the Tennis courts direction, they all talked loudly about an amazing Tennis game happening. They finished their lunch and went in the direction the crowd was going. When they got close to it there was a big group of people whispering things about how disgusting something looked. And Atobe understood who was playing, disgusting was the same world Tatsu used to describe her arms and legs, and when he managed to see the game, there she was.

Her bandages were torn, showing off parts of her arms and legs, she had been playing a game against the coach from the team they bested earlier.

“What... happened with her?” Gakuto was the first to ask, Atobe did not know how to answer him, it was the first time the rest of the team had directly seen how her scars looked, they all had surprised expressions.

“How can she even still play Tennis?” Oshitari was the second to speak, around them, the entire crowd whispered how awful and disgusting she looked. Atobe wanted to shout and scream to stop them from talking like that about her, but nothing would help her at that moment. She finished the game really fast. Her speed and strength on that mode was amazing, now he could understand why Sakaki-sensei had said she could beat a professional if she wanted. If she wished she could burn her body to win every single game. Atobe hoped she would not do that, he just did not want to see her hurt, and, from the last time he saw her using that, he knew she would have to feel the pain after the game.

When she left the court, the crowd made space for her to pass, Atobe followed her and the rest of Hyotei went behind him. She had gone to an isolated area and before they reached her she fell to the floor, hugging her arms and legs with a pained expression. He rushed to her, sitting on the floor and pulling her body up for a hug. She spoke first.

“They won’t bother our team anymore.” The first thing he did was to strengthen the hug around her, how could that girl only think like that, soon the other Hyotei boys arrived and helped them stand up. She didn’t even try to hide her scars anymore. They did not know what to say, it was like it broke them, what that girl had done with herself for Tennis. The silence was broken when Jirou spoke.

“You are amazing Tatsu-san!” The girl seemed confused and only blinked twice, so the younger boy continued.

“It’s amazing! Even with all those injuries you are still this good at Tennis! Amazing!” Everybody was silent again but soon Tatsu’s confused expression turned into a laugh.

The tension present before was broken with that sentence by Jirou, Atobe even gave him a pat on the back for the good work. On the way to their second match of the day, Tatsu pulled him to the side and gave him a small kiss saying she would explain everything later that day. The game in the afternoon went quick, no problems, even the crowd seemed too scared of Tatsu to do or say anything, she still did not put her bandages back. The match was easy, Tatsu was back on cheering for them, Atobe knew that playing like that they could win the nationals, they really could.

At night, they ordered a pizza, even with Atobe and Yuushi complaints that would hurt their health. Tatsu even tried to eat a bit when everybody else insisted on it. There were funny situations like with Yuushi staring too much at Tatsu’s legs, him, Atobe, learning how to eat a pizza with hands, the girl and Shishido discussing about German metal bands no one ever heard about. He had the best time he had had with the team since before Kanto tournament, she really was a part of them now, and, even being a bit jealous that he was not the center of all his attentions, he was glad about the friends his girlfriend had now.

Tatsu finished her shower and left the small bathroom on the cottage, she put on some comfy pants and a shirt, Oshitari greeted her outside seeming disappointed she was not with shorts anymore. She did not mind. There were more things on her mind. How would she explain to Atobe how terrified she was of a face and a name, she knew how ridiculous it sounded, and she simply did not know a way to pass to him how that name and that man image scared her. He looked at her, everybody else was already resting on their beds, she took some courage and motioned him to meet her outside.

When outside she set on the balcony of the cottage and looked at the woods outside, she heard some laughing coming from inside and soon Atobe was also outside near her with a blushing face.

“You could be a bit more subtle about that. Now they are misunderstanding what we are doing here.” Even with all the worries on her mind she could not contain to tease the younger boy a bit.

“You sure they are?” He blushed even more, she thought how cute he looked when he was like this. This blushing Atobe and the spoiled Atobe were, probably, her favorite ones, so different than the confident side he showed to everyone else.

“Hn, stop doing that, Tatsu.” She let out a small laugh when he set besides her and pulled her to lean on himself.

“So what did you remember and that scares you?”

She could see how serious he was, so she let her eyes travel on his while she brought back to her mind what had happened on the middle of last week, Tatsu didn’t knew how much of the story she should tell him, telling about Shizuru’s child just seemed so intrusive of her part. After everything the older woman had told her, and the situation she was when Tatsu left her house, she couldn’t help but feel some sort of pity for her. Ever she being the manipulative person she was. Also, Yörn, it did not matter how mad she was with him, he still helped her through the worst times of her life so she decided to focus on the memory and not to what made she recover it.

“I remembered him.” Tatsu could see how Atobe could not understand exactly who she was talking about.

“The executive, I remembered who he was.” The sentences he said on the hospital came back to her mind and she hugged Atobe for comfort, how could that man have so much control over her, she just became useless every time he came to her mind. Atobe held her and caressed her hair until she continued.

“I had… I had erased his figure from my mind. I had turned him into a monster, a shadow in my memories, so I wouldn’t need to accept the reality that I knew him before. He was a friend of my parents and he did that, that would only prove me even more that it was all my fault. It hurts so much to know that.” She was having problems breathing now.

“It is not your fault Neko-chan, and you know that. No person on their right mind would ever blame you.” Was the answer she got from him at start, but he continued.

“Why does that man scares you so much?”

With that question, the answer came to her mind and she finally realized the answer for all the nightmares she had and for the fact she could not eat. Why was she scared. It made her hug Atobe even more, she needed him so much at that moment.

“I am scared… I am scared because… I am happy. And I don’t want that man to take all my happiness away again.” He pulled her up so she would sit on his lap, for them to be even closer, and she kept speaking.

“I am really happy and I don’t know what I will do if I lose you or anyone on this team. I just need you all so much on my life and I am scared something will appear to ruin everything again. If that man does anything with you because of me, it would just break me forever again. I don’t wanna lose you.” Atobe pulled her face back so they were staring at each other.

“I will not lose you and I won’t let anyone interfere with your, no with our happiness ever again. But to be able to do that I need to know.” He made a pause on his speech, seemingly to gather his thoughts.

“I need to know who is this man. I have been researching your case on my free time, don’t be mad at me for it. I need to know so I can get what is yours, back.”

He could not, if he did that the man would, he would hurt her brother.

“You can’t do it, just forget it if you do it Mr. Ohno can do something with my brother.” Atobe made an understanding face with that sentence and continued speaking.

“He won’t, I am here and I will protect you and I promise you I will guarantee no backlash hits your brother. But that man must pay for what he did, and you know he should.” Tatsu was so scared, but even being scared, she trusted him, she trusted him so much that she did not complain or say anything against that, because she knew he was right, she finally could think again she deserved something back. The idea it was not her fault, that everything was not her fault could finally appear on her mind. It was a light inside her dark mind, her prison. That boy was, again, bringing her back to the light filled world and, god, how much she loved him for that. So she kissed him.

Atobe had been holding her sitting sideways on his lap and she pushed his head to her and kissed him. His lips felt so good on hers and his hands traveled on her back. Her hands were on his hair pulling it down so he would pin his head more and deepen the kiss. This time he was the one to break the kiss.

“So you will tell me all the information you know. And you will let me help you. But now, let’s do some stuff that made the others joke about when I was following you outside.” Her face went blank, just how sexy could that 15 year old boy be. He leaned her on one of the pillars in the balcony and kissed her once more. Somewhere in her mind there was a voice telling her to take things slow with him, but she just straight up ignored it. Her hands left his hair and went inside the fancy black robe he was wearing. Who wears a robe to sleep, anyway. Only Atobe Keigo himself. Her hands passed and grabbed onto his pale white skin, he broke the kiss to moan a bit and his hands went down her neck, making her put her head up to give him more access.

“Cute...” Was what he said before he forced the collar of her shirt to open up and let his mouth go on her exposed neck. Tatsu had pulled his robe almost entirely open and now she could clearly see his exposed chest and the shorts he was wearing below it. His mouth tried to go down on her skin but the collar of her shirt got in the way. He stared at her before pulling her to one more kiss. He broke the kiss and stared directly at her eyes, both breathless and said:

“Fuck, you make me go insane girl, we continue this in some place more private. Now excuse me, but I have to go to the toilet.” He said it, got up and entered the cottage, leaving her outside laughing at the pose he tried to make even with the disheveled robe and the blush on his skin.

She got inside and laid on her bed, noticing Atobe was still stuck in the bathroom. But before she could pull the bed sheet to cover her body, he left the bathroom and motioned her to move to the side so he could lie down with her, she smiled back at him so he could cuddle besides her on the bed. Without him needing to ask she whispered to him everything she knew about the executive until she fell asleep.

Tatsu woke up feeling a bump on her head and a sharp pain on her back. When she opened her eyes, she was in the floor, and the reason she was in the floor was spreading his legs over her bed. She could see Mukahi on her side laughing at her face and the perpetrator of her being in the floor finally opening his eyes due to the commotion.

“Hn, Tatsu, why are you on the floor?” Atobe spoke with a sleepy voice. The anger she had, made her get up and pull the bed sheets under his body, shoving him off the bed also. Later she heard Yuushi laughing at him for having kicked his own girlfriend from the bed. They played the final match of the tournament and won without a problem, Tatsu started to think that going to those tournaments and tolerating the people against them was way harder than the actual Tennis matches. When they were on the bus, celebrating, while going back to Tokyo, she did not notice a message on her phone that said.

“Tatsu, here is Shizuru, I need to meet you next weekend.” 


	12. A Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tezuka returns to Japan. The beautiful lady reappears.

#### Chapter 12: A meeting

Tezuka woke up when the airplane reached Japan soil. It was Friday night and his flight back to Germany was on Sunday Morning. He would not have much time. Picking up his luggage the idea of calling Ryoma passed again on his mind but he discarded it fast, the younger boy needed to focus for the finals that would be on the next day. He picked up a cab and when reaching home, his parents greeted him with enthusiasm, asking about his arm, the injury, his studies. Now he wish he had called him, it was already past 11 p.m., too late. His phone was over the table, but instead of messaging Ryoma he sent a quick text to Tatsu.

It had been a surprise when he learned she and Atobe were together. And he would be lying to himself if he said he did not feel a little sting on his heart with that news. Just how bad he was, he still felt bad even after all those years, even loving someone else, his pride got slightly injured because of that. It was so pathetic, he thought, but he could not change how he did feel when he heard the news. It did not stay, though, he wished for Tatsu’s happiness, her being happy would soften the guilt he still felt. If she was gonna archive that happiness by Atobe’s side, he would be happy for her. He would try to find his own by Echizen’s.

Sleep did not come to him for the entire night, maybe it was the timezone difference but, most probably, the excitement he felt for the game tomorrow. At 7 a.m. he was already outside the house, taking a subway in direction of the Tennis courts. Tezuka had sent a message to Tatsu the day before, telling her he would be there, to meet him before the game. He knew she would watch the match from a distant place due to her and Sumire’s old fight. And he would like to join, he was sure his presence would end up distracting the Seigaku team, so he would only watch the game.

Also, he wanted to talk with the girl, to finally apologize in person. That five minute phone call was not enough, at least for him. A bit before he arrived he received a text back from the girl, the game would be starting at that moment, she was near a large tree, near the court. Tezuka walked there, thanking the others around were paying to much attention on the match to notice his presence, reaching the spot he saw Atobe near a long haired lady, she was with her back turned to him so he could not see properly.

“Tezuka.” Hyotei’s captain saw him first, the long haired lady turned to him and he saw who it was.

“Tatsu!” She was so different than the last time he had seen her, not just the long hair, but she was completely different from the young lady she had been on his head. On that moment Tezuka realized how stupid was the slight hurt pride he had felt due to the girl be with Atobe, she was someone different. At that moment she was not the girl he admired or the girl he saw crying on that graveyard, she was a new Tatsu. He did not know what to say, Atobe seemed to be with an annoyed expression but did not give any comment. Was his old friend that spoke.

“I can’t believe you are this tall.” He stayed a couple of seconds without knowing how to answer but Atobe let out a loud laugh and gave an interested look to Tatsu. Even the king of Hyotei seemed to be a bit different than the one Tezuka knew before. He seemed somehow more… approachable? Like he had gone down from his pedestal a tiny bit. He asked himself if it was Tatsu that had done that with him. She talked again.

“I am alright with Syusuke and Yuuta, they are not that much taller than me, but you, just where does a 14 years old is that tall? Absurd.”

There was a pretense annoyance on her voice, still joking with him, he shook his head to show her it was not his fault for being tall. Her expression changed in less than a second and she bowed her head to him and said.

“I know my apology will not change anything I did to you in the past, but I am truly sorry for making you pass through all of that, Tezuka, I wish I could go back to the past and undo all of that but I cannot.” She blurted it all so fast that he did not have any answer for it, Atobe was by her side seeming as surprised as he was. He still truly believed he was the one to blame for some of the pain she had so seeing her lower her head and say that only made him say his apologies back.

“Tatsu, you don’t need to lower your head, I should be the one apologizing here, I left you on the moment you needed friends the most and you even send me that birthday gift...” Before he could continue, Atobe started talking.

“See, both of you messed up now just stop all this emotional scene and be friends again. But no hugs, Tezuka! She is my girlfriend.”

Tezuka even gave up on continuing his apology, Atobe would always be the spoiled obnoxious friend he had, it didn’t matter how much he grew up because of the girl, he checked her to see her reaction two those words and she still had her head lowered but she seemed to be… laughing? She put up her head and laughed loudly at Atobe’s serious face. He finally saw a glance from his childhood crush on her face but the feelings he had for her were only admiration and, now, he could clearly see that. He even smiled at that scene, Atobe getting annoyed no one takes him seriously and Tatsu just laughing on his face. They heard a loud cheer and their attention switched to the Tennis game.

It was not looking good for Seigaku, their first double, Kaidoh and Momoshiro, did not seem even close to the Rikkai double. Tezuka heard Tatsu speaking from behind him.

“Those boys from Seigaku, don’t even play like a double, so it won’t matter how strongly they are individually, they won’t be able to do much.” He had faith on his team but Tatsu’s prediction showed itself right and when things started going bad on the second match also, with the golden pair, Tezuka could not hold himself anymore and he went to the court.  


“Hn, what did you give Tezuka as a birthday gift?” Was what Atobe asked her when they were watching the beautiful Seigaku reunion unfold in front of them.

“Oh, Ryoma wanted to play a match against Tezuka before Kanto finals so I just sent him to Germany as Tezuka’s gift.” She could see Atobe’s face change from a mild interest to a surprise face and she laughed inside from the boy’s blushing face.

“What? You sent Ryoma as a gift? To Tezuka?” He asked to her, loudly. Tatsu could not contain her playful side and kept pretending she did not understand Atobe’s concern.

“Yes I did, what is the problem?” He felt for her joke at start and did not knew how to answer but regained his composure.

“You are messing with me again, Tatsu.”

“Me? Messing with you? No, never! If I was messing with you I would make out with you for a long time and them, leave, out of nowhere to go to the bathroom. I also did not forget the kicking me from bed part.” She could not resist mentioning the last week’s incident what made Atobe go to a brighter shade of red and him to start mumbling an excuse.

“Even my perfect self has some bad habits, like moving a tiny bit while I sleep. Also, if you wanted to continue! I just thought a more...!” Tatsu interrupted his excuse pulling him to the Tennis court.

“You are just too cute, Keigo. Let’s go watch the game now, I don’t care if Sumire will be annoyed with me.”

Atobe just followed her downstairs to the court, that girl knew all the ways to make him fall from his king pose, he just did not know how to deal with her most of the time. So he followed her to the court and many of the others watched stared at their entwined hands when they set down, next to the Fujji brothers, Yumiko and Yuuta. But it was a different voice that greeted Tatsu first.

“Hello, Tatsu-chan, how have you been doing? We should mark another Tennis match any of this days”. Mizuki was straight up trying to flirt with her what made Atobe pull her to his arms and answer the vice-captain of St. Rudolph a bit louder than he should have.

“My girlfriend, you don’t have permission to call her like that or to invite her anywhere.”

“What you two are dating?” That vice game from Rikkai’s side of the court, it was Yanagi. “Yes we are!” Atobe answered, while Tatsu was by his side only looking interested.

“That is a turn of events I did not expect. Did you know they were dating, Genichirou?” Sanada answered without looking back, what made Tatsu laugh a bit.

“Good for them, now pay attention on the game, Renji!” Atobe turned to Tatsu.

“Why are you laughing at Sanada?”

“Oh, some day I saw him doing something he should not be doing on that place. Relax, Sanada, my lips are sealed!” The vice-captain of Rikkai finally turned to them blushing a bit on his angry face.

“I was doing nothing! You saw nothing!” Tatsu laughed a bit more but shook her head in agreement.

They were getting some looks from the Seigaku team but no one said anything until Tezuka directed himself to them.

“Tatsu, can you warm up Syusuke and Echizen? You cause too much commotion here.” She got up from the seat and got her Tennis equipment and made a motion for the two Seigaku boys to follow her. Atobe was not very happy with that but it would be the last time they would take his girlfriend’s time so he tried to overlook it. Tezuka’s presence had made the Seigaku Golden Pair play better but still the Niou/Yagyuu Pair ended up beating them. If Seigaku lost one more game, Ryoma and Fuji would not even be able to play and Seigaku would have lost. Next up, was Inui.

The match between Inui and Yanagi was one of the most even Tennis games Atobe had ever seen they clearly knew each other for a long time. Tatsu came back after it was already 4/3 to Yanagi. She set besides him, now on her Tennis uniform and said.

“Ryoma wants me to play a match against his father, the Samurai Nanjiroh, but I don’t want to.” Tatsu always liked a challenge, why would she not want to play against a high skilled professional.

“Why?” He asked, passing his arm around her shoulder.

“Because I don’t want to lose and I also don’t want to go back to the hospital for having passed my limits. I wanna stay by your side.” When she was that direct it always made him blush. She was thinking about him and his feelings, even wanting to play against the older man.

“It’s been years you did not fight against an opponent that is in your level or stronger than you. You should try. I will guarantee you won’t get hurt. Didn’t you say that you can play for one hour on the 50%? I will be cheering for you to win in an hour. And if you don’t just stop the game, no one will hold it against you for that.” He saw the shadow of doubt leave her face and her lips turn into a beautiful smile. He could not resist and gave her a light kiss, making much of the audience around them to start whispering a bit more.

“I guess, we really do attract too much attention.” She said.

Fuji’s opponent, Akaya, tried his best to scare and to hurt Syusuke on the match but it did not matter much. The Seigaku boy showed he was far superior, it did not matter the demon mode or the angry mode Akaya presented. Syusuke ended the game in a clear 6x0. After it he passed and thanked Tatsu for all the practice. It was clear that finally training against someone better than him made the genius of Seigaku progress a lot more than normal.

Before Ryoma’s match, he said something to Tezuka, that made the second boy blush, and went on their direction.

“Tatsu! If I win this game you will play a match against my father after!” She answered with a smirk.

“So win!” Sanada clearly underestimated how much Ryoma could progress in a couple of months. It was a difficult game but Ryoma ended victorious, after all the Rikkai had left their vice captain to go accompany the surgery of their captain. Sanada did not say anything after the loss. He just went away. Alone to the hospital. Even Tezuka cheered a tiny bit during the game. When Ryoma let the court after he had won, he went and hugged his Buchou, making the entire audience stare at them.

There was a big Seigaku celebration and when he and Tatsu were leaving the court Ryoma stopped them.

“Hey, Tatsu, you still need to play against my father!” And before she could answer the younger boy dragged her and Atobe to a Tennis court in which an older man dressed like a monk was waiting. “Brat why did you drag me here?” Was what that older man asked. Atobe could see now that all Seigaku members and their cheer squad was still around, many members from the other teams also, including some Hyotei.

“Hey, old man, this is the girl that have been training me. Didn’t you say you wanted to play a match against her? So do it!” The black robed man stared Tatsu from top to bottom what made Atobe stare daggers at him.

“Oh, she is really pretty, brat! Too pretty for Tennis! Would be a great model, though!” The older man was, clearly messing with her face but she let go of Atobe’s hand, took a step forward and bowed to him.

“Nanjiroh Echizen-san I would really like to be able to play a practice match against you. I know I cannot play in high level for long and you also are not in your prime form and is injured. But I really would like to play a match against you, sir. Please!”

Even Atobe was impressed by how eager she was in playing that match. The older man, Nanjiroh Echizen, started laughing.

“Hahaha girl, if you want it so bad, sure! Let’s play. But like you said I am not on my prime form and I am also injured so why don’t we do a timed match?”

“What type of timed match?” She asked back. The older man turned his back to them and walked to the other side of the court.

“Each one serves once. When any of us is on the end of the strength, we stop the game, and whoever has more points, win. Wouldn’t it be fair for both of us, devil?” With that sentence now they knew Nanjiroh knew Tatsu, to be able to use her devil nickname. She accepted the match and they went to one of the sides of the court so they girl could warm up.

“It doesn’t matter who he is, Neko-chan, I trust you can win.” He said while helping her stretch her arms behind her back.

“It’s been so long I did not play against anyone stronger than me, Keigo. But I will play my best Tennis!” She exclaimed, moving to the court. Atobe felt a sense of pride seeing her back walking to the court. Any accomplishments she had, he felt proud for those so he shouted, before she could do her first serve.

“Go Tatsu! You can do it!” With the same spirit she had cheered for him during all those games on Hyotei.

She started the game using the Providence, it was clear she would not be joking on that match. Nanjiroh did not seem concerned at all, even when the ball went on the exact opposite direction he had ran to. In less than a second he was already on the other side of the court, delivering her serve. Ryoma said close by.

“So that is how you can deliver that serve all the time even if you don’t know your opponent. You just need superior speed and strength to be able to run to the other side of the court after the ball changes direction. Mada Mada Dane.” The brat’s commentary had been perfect. Tatsu’s diversion technique did not matter on tat case.

When Nanjiroh returned the serve, though, she was already on the net. She switched her racket to the left hand and delivered a drop shot from behind her back what made Kikumaru and Mukahi give impressed shouts. The older man still returned her drop shot what made her switch racket back to the right hand to be able to deliver his return, that went near the side of the court. They kept that duel near the net for some minutes, Tatsu trying her best to use her acrobatic moves to score but the older man returning every single one of them in a manner she would have to run twice as much to attack again. But soon a smile passed through Nanjiroh’s face and he delivered a ball that would be impossible for Tatsu to deliver, normally. She noticed it almost too late, but her look changed, she whispered something, Atobe knew she was activating the 40%, she doubled her speed and reached his return, throwing it back to the other side of the court with way more strength than any of her previous shots. The opponent, that was not expecting her to show that kind of strength, let his racket fall when he went to return the ball and Tatsu scored first point.

“Take me serious, like I am taking you serious.” She asked for the older man that was already moving to serve. He laughed a bit and answered.

“Now I see why that brat wanted me to play against you. I will not be able to copy you with the Muga no Kyōchi because my body cannot stand the pain that yours do. But, my technique does not only consists on that.” He said that already sending his twist serve. Tatsu had problems but managed to return it. The older man started using the Samurai Zone and any balls Tatsu returned just went directly to him. Even on her 40% of the pain speed she would not be able to follow it for long. And Nanjiroh scored, once, twice, three, four, five times. It seems that himself, also had a way to increase his strength and speed. The fact that Tatsu’s senses were getting slightly affected by the pain did not help much. After she lost the fifth point in a row she turned to him and said.

“Keigo, please count 40 minutes from this moment on.” He gave a nod in response and put the chronometer on his phone on while the girl went to her serve spot. She would be reaching the 50% of the pain on that moment. After she served her bandages started falling off.

There were many comments coming from behind him about the girl’s scars, Tezuka was impressed that even after all those years her skin still looked like that, Ryoma and Fuji did not say anything. When one of the younger boys in Seigaku cheer team tried to say something bad about it Ryoma accidentally let his racket hit the boy’s head before he could finish the sentence. Now Atobe could see there were more people watching, Hyotei was still besides him, cheering for Tatsu but there were Fudoumine, St. Rudolph, Rokkaku and Yamabuki also watching. Even some random watchers that he did not know stopped to see the game.

When she served, everybody could notice the difference in power. Reaching the 50% her vision and hearing were not more disturbed by pain and she had even more strength and speed. For the first time, Nanjiroh seemed impressed. And he started to have problems to deliver her shots as well. His Samurai Zone did not work as well as before due to her being able to counteract the rotation he had put on the balls so he was having to move in court. Tatsu did a smash version of her Providence serve, making Nanjiroh almost lose his racket. Atobe smiled seeing she copying a bit of his Hametsu E No Rondo. But they started a long rally that seemed endless when Ryoma commented again nearby.

“He can’t use the second step of the Muga no Kyöchi properly because he can’t predict her moves due to the acrobatic. This is amazing, she may be able to win.” Atobe answered just giving a loud shout in direction of the court.

“Go Tatsu!” And she scored. They had been on the rally for 15 minutes.

Nanjiroh was showing clear signs of being tired. He was already not split-stepping as much and his speed decayed a lot. Tatsu was close to her time limit also. She scored twice more, once using a perfect copy of his Hametsu E No Rondo again, but with the inhuman strength and speed she now possessed. And the second time with an acrobatic play that made Gakuto and Kikumaru shout even louder. Atobe’s chronometer said 38 minutes when the last of these points happened, both the players looked at each other saying in unison.

“This will be the last serve.” But instead of Tatsu walking to the serve spot she walked on Atobe’s direction.

“I only have around two minutes before my body enters on a danger zone, so I will show you a serve I haven’t use since 5 years ago. I thought I would only be able to use it if I burned my body again but I sense that after all this years of training I can do it now. Keigo I want to try something even if I am not able to feel anything through tact due to the 50%.” She said that while touching his face. It was not her normal touch, it was very robotic. She really did not seem to feel his skin under her fingers.

“I trust you. Try it.” Was what he answered, she gave him a bright smile back and she kissed his lips.

It was only a touch of lips soon she ran to the server zone.

“Even not feeling any tact, somehow I can still feel that Keigo! Probably is just my love for you talking but I don’t care. I will use it as evidence!” She shouted it loudly what made him blush a bit. She was still smiling when her vision focused the court in front of her. She did the same ritual she normally did for the Providence Serve. She let the ball touch the court, one, two, but on the third time she smashed the ball really hard on court making it go way higher than it normally went. When many people were asking themselves if she had missed, Tezuka exclaimed from a spot near Ryoma.

“It was not a mistake. This is the Terrible Providence.” Before he could answer what that means he saw Tatsu lowering her left hand to the floor, while kneeling, like she was a runner taking impulse. When the ball she had shoved on the floor was almost reaching it’s highest spot she used all her strength to jump. She reached the ball on it’s highest spot. It was higher than even Mukahi’s Moon Salute. She did not do any of the normal tricks from the providence. She served like it was a smash and since she was so high she had enough angle to do that.

The ball reached the other side of the court and Nanjiroh did not manage to deliver it. There was a loud questions coming from one from the Seigaku’s younger boys again.

“Why is it so impressive? It just looks like a normal smash for me.” Ryoma beated him on the answer again.

“Idiot, did you not see where the ball stopped? I guess not. The ball touched the court really close to the net on the other side, only with that stupid high jump would someone have enough height to do a serve like that. That’s why my dad could not deliver it he was not ready to deliver a smash that close to the line and even when he reached the ball the strength and speed she used for it made him miss.” While Echizen was giving that explanation Tatsu walked to Atobe.

“Thanks you, Keigo. Your kiss gives me wings.”

“Idiot, come here let me hug you.” But when he passed his arms around the girl he felt she falling. He was worried for a second but then he remembered her first practice on Hyotei. The girl felt asleep in his arms. He told the others to not worry that she was only sleeping. Nanjiroh Echizen approached him.

“Now I understand how that girl won against a professional. Tell your girlfriend, boy, that when she is able to use that serve always, she will have the Tennis world on her feet.” He said that and went away. It did not matter for any of them that the game had ended it a tie.

 

Tatsu woke up with an awful body ache it was like all her muscles had decided to go to a 3 day party.

“You finally decided to wake up, Neko-chan. I was starting to get worried. I hope you are not feeling much pain.” Atobe was sitting besides her on his car. She looked around a bit, they were on the way to her house. She had so much fun during the match and the day itself that she forgot the talk she would have with Shizuru on that day. She tried to answer Atobe but only grunts came from her mouth.

“It’s still 6 pm, Tatsu you have time until the conversation you don’t want to have. By they way, why were you so unsure about taking me to that conversation? Didn’t you say you would let me help you on solving your past?” Tatsu knew he would end up asking that question, in truth she did not want him to know the answer to it. It was pretty pitiful.

“Just Shizuru is a problem. You will see why when you meet her.” The car arrived on the door to her house and she left it before Atobe could ask again. She knew he was following just behind still asking.

“Hn, why did you blush when I asked?” The girl let the keys fall when he mentioned that. “I did not blush. Just I don’t want to talk about it. Because it is pretty… pitiful.” She whispered the last part, already opening the door and dropping her Tennis bag on the floor. Before she could go upstairs to her shower Atobe pulled her to his arms.

“Tell me why.” He whispered on her hair. Tatsu had no strength to go against that, he already knew how to hold her to make her like this. But she did not want to admit she was… No she would not admit! She tried to take his arms off her what only made him pull her even closer.

“Tatsu… tell me.” He whispered close to her ear. Her legs turned week and she completely leaned on his hug.

“Shizuru is...” She tried to speak, to find a way to tell why the fact he would meet that woman pissed her off so much. But Atobe kept whispering to her and hugging. She wanted to stay on his arms so much.

“Hn… What she is?” Tatsu ended up shouting her reason.

“She is pretty! Way more beautiful than me and she will hit on you! I am sure she will do it!” Atobe suddenly let his arms fall, releasing her from the hug.

“hahahahaha! You are jealous! You really are jealous and then you say I am the jealous one!” He kept laughing what made Tatsu’s anger increase even more so she just rushed upstairs and closed the bathroom door, still hearing the boy laugh. She noticed her face was completely red when she looked at the mirror. Tatsu did not hear the doorbell, when she went downstairs, Shizuru was already hitting on Atobe.

 

That had been the second time Atobe saw Tatsu really mad. When the older woman in front of him stood her hand to touch him. Tatsu held her arm with her devil look.

“If you try to do that again, Shizuru, I will break every single bone in your body.” That woman looked like someone out of a Japanese soap opera, in Atobe’s eyes. She just had a way of talking and standing like she floated. He was impressed by her beauty but did not feel attracted, there was something fake about it. Like she had a script for every single sentence.

“I would not imagine you to be this territorial, Tatsu.” Her voice sounded like a teenager’s voice, but he could clearly see the age marks forming on her face.

“Drop the act, Shizuru, he knows who you are and what you have done. Say what you have to say so I can avoid you for a couple more years. Tatsu said, while releasing the woman’s arm. Shizuru’s face changed completely, the doll like smile that was there before turned into an annoyed face, like there was something smelling bad under her nose.

“Oh, you trust this boy that much? Impressive, Tatsu. Let’s finish this fast I don’t have much time and Ohno may be have people following me still.” Atobe went close to Tatsu, he saw how she shivered when that name was pronounced. “So talk.” The younger girl gave a quick answer and held his hand. She was shaking. That man had traumatized her so bad that she was still scared, even him being by her side. He would make that man pay, he would give Tatsu everything that was hers back and the man would pay. Atobe would guarantee it.

Shizuru entered the living room and set in one of the couches, she tried to keep her pose, but the way she looked to all sides and held her lower abdomen, it was clear how scared she was. She gathered her breath and started to speak.

“Some things about your brother… Did not happen the way you think they did Tatsu.” Tatsu interrupted before she could continue speaking.

“This is not about Akihiko. This is about that man! So focus on him!” Atobe firmed his grip on her hand. “We need to know everything Tatsu, to solve this we need all the information.” She gave him a desperate look, it was clear how much talking about her brother hurt. But she made a small nod with her head. He pulled her to rest in his arms while telling Shizuru.

“Give away all your information but if you are here only to hurt Tatsu I will not forgive you!” She kept speaking, not even Tatsu’s interruption seemed that it mean something for her.  
  
“Your brother he… Ohno made him say that, Akihito felt about it. I know you lived long years thinking about his hate but please believe me when I say he was not against you. Or against us. He was just a boy. I only have that information. I don’t know about Ohno or anything but I felt, after last time we talked I should tell you at least this, Tatsu. Now I will leave. Apologies for taking your time.” The older woman passed through them and left. Tatsu did not say anything. Atobe’s arms were still holding her body, she turned to him and rested her head on his shoulder. There were no tears. She whispered low enough for him to hear.

“I know I should not trust on anything that woman speaks but… Why I feel so relieved. Is it possible, Keigo? Is it?” He hugged her again.

“If he does or not. We will find out. That woman. She knows more and you know it. We will need to discover. I will guarantee we discover. And we will talk with your brother I have some good lessons to teach him on how to treat his older sister.”

 


	13. A Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her brother finally appears. The person that had been planning everything behind the curtains is revealed,

#### Chapter 13: A Mirror.

_“Just look at yourself, Can you see where you are?  
_ _Look at yourself, Now you can't hide the scars,  
_ _Just look at yourself 'cause there's nowhere to go,  
_ _And you know...  
_ _Tomorrow!  
_ _We're gonna have to live with the things you say,”_   
**Sixx. A.M. - Tomorrow**

 

He got up and stared at the place that his mirror used to be. He broke it the past night on another rage fit. The shards of the mirror were still scattered on the floor, his hand was still hurt by them. As always he was not capable of sleeping a single second at night. He entered in the shower and let the water fall on his ebony black hair, he asked himself if there was any way in which he could erase his miserable existence. Going to school was always the same, he left the empty apartment behind and walked straight to the basketball court, it didn’t matter if classes were happening or if the school was full of people he had never seen. He had not slept again and his mood was at the worst it could have been and ignoring and scaring everyone on his way was his usual morning action anyway.

“Aki, good morning!” Aki knew who was the owner of that voice, the only person on the school that still spoke with him, but he did not turn around to answer.

“Aki, have you eaten breakfast today? You look awfully pale.” And his anger reached it’s peak, he turned around and shouted with the girl behind him.

“Why it matter to you what I did or didn’t do? Do not. Talk. With me.” As soon as the last world left his mouth he realized what he had said. If it was for anyone else the person would have ran away but the blond girl was still standing looking at him.

“Aki, you are going to practice aren’t you? Even with that other school being here today to prepare for the cultural festival. So I made you breakfast! Going to leave it next to the court. Have a nice practice!” She turned around and left him staring at how the wind passed through her short blond hair. Aki remembered the first time he had saw the girl, Fumiko, two years ago, she had been the same as she was today, it did not matter how much he shouted and threatened she was still there, making him breakfast now and then, including him in project groups when no one else wanted to and she didn’t knew anything about him.

Aki started to practice, 3 more players from the team had decided to ditch the cultural festival preparations also, so they could easily do a 2 vs 2 half court practice. During basketball was the only moment he enjoyed on his life. The only moment his thoughts and memories did not haunt him, he tried a 3 point shot, but missed, the lack of sleep was affecting his play. On that exact moment he heard a group of people entering the court.

“This will be the place for Ore-sama’s cafe!” Said the figure in the middle of the group, Aki decided to ignore the newcomers and keep practicing but his 3 teammates seemed too distracted with the commotion.

“Hey, basketball players. Ore-sama needs this court for my culture festival project so go practice somewhere else.” Aki finally turned around to answer the figure, it was a boy shorter than him with a fancy middle school uniform, looking like he owned the court. That annoyed him even more.

“No.” Was the answer Aki gave, to try to make those people leave. He tried another 3 pointer, turning back to his training, but failed. The fancy boy kept speaking.

“Hn, don’t you understand? Ore-sama needs this spot for my marvelous project the 3rd year cafe.” And that was what needed to make Aki lose his calm for the second time on that day but this would be worst. That other boy had got him on a bad day and, above all, he irritated him. Maybe it was his way of speaking, or just his looks, or even that stupid mole under his right eye. So he held the boy by it’s collar, towering him with his height and gave him a punch in the face, in the middle of the group of people that had been following him around, listening to all his obnoxious bullshit.

 

Atobe was static for a second, that boy had punched him. That boy that looked too familiar had just punched him. He had approached the boy before trying to understand why did he have that familiar aura but he could not remember from where was it from. The boy was taller than him, he had a black hair that was slid back falling a bit to the sides, his look and the aura around him reminded Atobe of something he could not quite grasp. But he had been punched in the face. The taller boy in front of him walked out of the court fast, no one tried to stop him they all swarmed Atobe asking if he was alright. He did not feel much pain only surprise. One of the girl’s gave him a tissue that he didn’t accept. He kept thinking why the boy had punched him, than it came his realization, this was not Hyotei. So this was, probably, the only basketball court in the school and he had asked to use it for the festival. That was his mistake. Soon Kabaji appeared with an aromatic tissue and they went to the infirmary to check his face.

“So you were an asshole and a guy punched your face?” Was Tatsu’s voice on the phone.

“I was not that… I just misjudged my environment.” Impressively she did not seem mad, or like she would kill the person that punched him, she just laughed a bit on the other side of the line teasing him about his precious face. Atobe did not know how to deal with the conversation they had on the previous Saturday, telling her he had felt something amiss on Shiruzu’s sentences would be crushing the tiny hope she now had that her brother may not hate her. But he needed her to focus so they could come to all the truth on that story, he decided he would tell her his suspicions today, after practice.

He said a quick goodbye to Tatsu when he heard a commotion coming from outside. Arriving there, some of his class students were around a blond girl.

“We won’t let you get close to Atobe-sama! You are a friend of the person that punched him!” The girl kept ignoring the shouts and trying to pass to reach him, but there were to many on the way, when he saw that scene, he interfered.

“Oya! All of you! Let the girl talk to me if she wishes.” Instantly all students left her way and the tiny blond girl stood in front of him. She had a short blond hair and green eyes, and did not look Japanese at all when she started to speak, Atobe could notice a strong accent.

“Atobe-san I came to apologize in behalf of Aki. He should not have punched you.” More voices came from the crowd insulting the girl.

“And why did you came to apologize on his behalf? Why Aki himself did not come to talk with Ore-sama?” He wanted to know the girl connection with the person that had punched him, that boy that had such a familiar aura and reminded Atobe of someone.

“Aki does not act without being provoked, I know him! So he would never apologize, but I do understand what he did was wrong so I came.” He could see determination on her eyes, she even said he had done something to provoke the Aki person.

“Apology accepted, and alert your friend that I made arrangements that no one would use the basketball court during the festival so he can continue his practice.” He saw the girl’s eyes widen a bit, she probably did not expect him to do this, but she took a deep bow, whispered a thank you, and left. Atobe put someplace on his mind to try to discover more about that Aki boy but he had more urgent matters at that moment.

 

With Hyotei preparing to their cultural festival that would happen on Wednesday, Tatsu had only to give them the afternoon practice. She had been against that but Sakaki was overseas in a convention, so her pleas for more practice time fell on deaf years. They had one week until the last tournament for them to get the National’s invite, so she needed to be on her best condition. It did not matter that the previous tournaments had been easy, they needed to practice their most. At least the school had allowed the regular team to go practice at her house after the cultural festival preparations would be done for the day and that was what would be happening later.

But right now she faced another challenge. She stood in front of the graveyard her parents had been buried at, the single white rose in her hand lost a few petals due to her indecisiveness. She wanted to do this, he wanted to be able to walk inside and stand in front of their graves and lay a rose on it. But she had been standing there for hours already, without being able to move. Tatsu wanted to be able to do at least this without depending on Atobe, he had been there for her, being her support every single time so she wanted to do at least this, alone. Another petal of the rose hit the floor and she still could not move her body to enter, when she was almost giving up Shizuru’s words came to her head. And with the thought her little brother, Akihiko may not hate her, she was able to enter.

Finding the graves was easy, she still had vivid memories of that day in the rain and the amount of time she had spent here. There were two graves separated from the rest, the first thing that attracted her attention was that there were fresh flowers over both graves. Not any fresh flowers, there was one single black orchid on top of each. It was too much of a coincidence for that flower to be there. It had to be from someone that knew their parents and, more specifically, knew her mother’s painting. A smile came to the girl’s face imagining there was still someone that cared about her parents so much. She bend down and rested the rose on her hand in the grass between the graves.

Tatsu thought about what she could say but nothing came to her mind, in the end she just set down in front of the graves and stared at them for long minutes. The epitaphs engraved had been proposed by Tarou, he told her in that drunken night after Shizuru cheated on him. Tarou Sakaki had cried in front of her cursing life and the fact the two people had helped him the most, her parents, were dead and how he had to choose their epitaphs. On her mother’s was engraved - Giselle Fujiwara. Painted the world and the lives around with her smile every day. - That made Tatsu remember her mother, that always greeted everyone with her beautiful open smile, how she would insist to still cook, even with all the servants in the house, in the end, she was a foreigner that left her home country for love. On her father’s was engraved - Akihito Fujiwara. Fell in love with a rose when very young, married her, died besides his beloved rose. - It made Tatsu remember all the times her father had talked with her, trying to make her view life in a more open way, that not everything was Tennis. She remembered her parents dancing on the ballroom in one of the company’s parties, the fact her mother had refused to accept one expensive dress and just went and bought a general store one to use. When Tatsu notice, it was raining, not only on the sky but also from her eyes.

She laughed a bit at how much she had improved since she arrived in Japan and that made a subject come up to her mind. A subject she really wanted to talk about with them. Still crying and smiling she started to speak.

“You know, mother, father… The day I arrived back in Japan I met someone. I bet you two would approve of him, he is the son of one of your closest friends. Probably he is way more suited to be rich than I am, to be honest. He is overconfident, thinks he can solve anything and is really obnoxious at times. He is a Tennis player also! You two would really like him a lot. You would… I love him, you know? I really do. I never felt any of this before, is it what you felt for Mother the first time you saw her, Father? Is this feeling that you die a thousand deaths at each kiss? This feeling of not wanting to touch the other scared you would taint them? Can I… Can I believe that you two would approve of me and him? Can I believe you would have dinner with him and talk about your pasts? And show him awful pictures from my childhood? Can I? I just miss you two so much...” She was already sobbing at their graves, just wanting she could have shared so many more moments with them, the rain did not bother her at the slightest.

She took a long time to leave, but when she glanced back at their graves, the hope that had been born in her mind imagined it was Akihiko that left those Orchid’s there, and she went home still with that image on her mind. When she was near her house and her clothes were already soaked by the rain, Tatsu checked her clock to notice she was 10 minutes late for the practice. She rand the rest of the way and, arriving there, the entire Hyotei regular team was already waiting.

“Tatsu! Why are you soaked?” Atobe ran to her and gave her his practice jacket, not that it mattered much, she was already soaked. She went and opened the door as fast as she could while the Hyotei boys stared at her. They were all asking questions, specially Atobe. She murmured something that she was outside when it started raining and led them to the underground courts at her place, she was wetting the floor behind her but her good mood for having gone to the graveyard made her not care. She passed some quick training to them while going to take a warm shower, she could see Atobe’s stare on her back when she left the room. He was probably asking himself what she had been doing, she would tell him after practice was done.

She took a quick shower and went downstairs to practice with them. Everything passed really fast, all preoccupied with their last tournament on the next Saturday, and she thought that somehow, after they saw her playing on her max, they felt an increase on their will to get better at Tennis. Mukahi and Jirou specially, they were training harder than ever. They all left but Atobe, he would stay to have some tea with her. Just after they left she pulled the Band-aid on Atobe’s face.

“It did not swell, good.” She said, touching his face on the place he had gotten punched.

“What were you doing walking around in the rain? Did you want to get sick or something? He did not even complain about her pulling his band-aid, he had that cute pout face she loved so much. Tatsu could not resist and dropped a kiss on his cheek. He passed his arm around her waist and asked again.

“Why were you on the rain? Your clothes were transparent, you know? Oshitari was staring at them.” She gave him a big smile before she answered, the memory of telling her parents about him were still fresh on her mind.

“I went to visit my parents at the graveyard. I had never gone there after that day that Tezuka found me there. So I went today.” He didn’t say anything, just pulled her to a hug showing how proud he was with that simple action she had done. On his arms, she kept speaking.“It really was something else talking with them, at first I didn’t knew what to talk about but the subject came to me. I just ended up talking about you, Keigo.” He pulled her even closer trying to hide his blushing face from her eyes.

“Hn, you always say stuff that makes me not know what to do, Tatsu.”

She took some distance from the hug and held his chin so he stared at her eyes. There was a prominent red blush over his cheeks and he had that out expression again.

“Keigo you are just too cute sometimes, you know? Specially with this shy expression.” He strengthen his held on her waist answering.

“I am not shy.” “So why can I clearly see a blush in your face?” She held his chin close, their mouths almost touching, she could feel his hands trying to pull her for a kiss but she said one last sentence before she leaned to kiss him.

“Shy boy.” It was a soft kiss at start, that was quickly broken by the younger boy. “I will make understand that Ore-sama is never shy.”

 

Atobe would make her pay for teasing him so much. He kissed her again, this time hard. His arms pulled her up, making the girl hold his neck for support and her legs to wrap around his body, he turned around, trapping her in his arms, between the wall and himself. The heat of the kisses increased, he could feel his clothes were already feeling too tight over his body. Her hands pulled his hair and she was breathing hard under his kisses, his hands held her legs, her bandages falling off. But it was not enough, he want to touch her more and carrying her he could not. So he put his hands over her shorts and supported her with only his strength, leading them to the general direction of her sofa. She broke the kiss when he set down, taking her with him. She looked so absolutely gorgeous at that moment, her mouth slightly opened and her eyes closed. God he had never wanted something as much as he wanted her at that moment. He kissed her again his hands went to her back removing her white practice shirt as he went up until he reached the clasp of her bra. He thought for a second if he wanted to do that, but the dream he had on the bus came to mind, he wanted their first time together to be on a beautiful place with a large bed and the entire night, after he had beaten Seigaku in the national. He broke the kiss.

“Hn, see I am not shy. Do you understand now?” She was breathing so hard she could not answer him, so he just pulled her to his chest laying back on the couch and caressed her hair until she was able to speak properly again.

“Boy, if you keep doing this and stopping you will… Never mind.” Tatsu was still looking breathless but her threat came jokingly, this scene of them in the couch reminded him of the first time he had came to her house and how far they had come on their relationship, the way she shivered when he looked at her scars and how closed she was. He wanted her to improve even more, and for that they need to clarify everything on her past.

“Tatsu I need you to do something for me.” She answered with a murmur, and set back on the couch, understanding it was a serious subject. Atobe missed her body over his, but also set down to discuss his suspicions.

“Something Shizuru said seemed off for me. I cannot place exactly where are my suspicions but everything from the way she said about your brother to how she set while it, somehow seem fake for me. I did not want to crush your hopes in what she said being true but Ore-sama think that there is something more about it. So I need you to focus on the memories you have of her so we find out what is off.” He tried his best to show her they needed that information, even if it would kill her hope of not being hated. She did not answer for a second but soon said.

“You are right there was something off about her, but I was blinded by hope to see it. Let me think about it. The way she was on that day it had been completely different from when I went to her house, it seemed so much useless for her to come here only for that if she had nothing to gain with it. But I can’t imagine what she would have to gain.” They kept discussing it for long minutes while the rain fell outside.

 

Aki stood outside his apartment door, he did not expect that man would visit him, he thought he was still overseas. The other man was leaning on the wall, smoking, Aki hated that. He hated the smell of the cigar and he hated how that man had no consideration and just let ashes fall down everywhere. He had hated that man since the first time he had seen him. Since his sister had introduced them. He hated how the man walked, how he talked and how he felt everyone else was worst then him. Aki clenched his hands, still a bit swollen from the punch he gave earlier when the man released another smokescreen from his mouth.

“I saw your sister, Aki. She is better.” That was what he said and that was all that he needed to say to make Aki interested. His sister was better, she was recovering. Even after everything she was recovering. He felt a small light of happiness that had not appeared on his mind for a long time. His let his voice out in a whisper.

“Is she really better?” The older man in front of him gave one of his half smiles and continued. “Yes, now she can smile and laugh, she can talk staring at people and she does not look like she will kill herself anytime soon. She really is better.” The younger boy almost let a smile out hearing that. He wanted so much for her to be better. The only thing he really wished was for her to be able to get out of the hell they had been through for the past years. After everything she had done for him he wanted her to be happy. He could clearly remember when he was a kid she would protect him and fight against anyone that tried to bother him, always on her Tennis practice uniform, always with her sarcastic smile. He really wanted her to smile again.

But the man in front of him continued speaking. “She has someone, some cocky rich kid, he is almost of your age, to be honest.” 

Aki noticed something different on that sentence, that man rarely let his true emotions out but that sentence had something on it, was it… Rancor? He decided to ask. “And why do you feel bad about seeing my sister loves someone?” The expression on the man’s face switched to anger for a second but he answered.

“Somehow I love your sister right now.” This time, Aki could not contain his laugh.

“No you don’t. You may not be Ohno but you are awful as well. You kept in contact with me for all this years without telling her. You stayed with Shizuru-sensei also. Now you say you love her? No, you are just annoyed you cannot have her anymore.” The older man crushed his cigar on his hands and left without answering.

Aki knew he was right, that person had never and would never love his sister. That man that kept in contact, pretending to take care of him but only using him to sleep with Shizuru or to try to get closer to his sister’s heart. He had never managed to reach his sister and Aki was thankful for that. From deep inside his heart he hoped the person his sister choose would make her happy. He hoped this person would be able to bring her smile back, the smile her own brother had taken from her.

 

Tatsu though, the first thing that passed through her head was Shizuru crying and after the words he had said on that day. She said it was not from any of them but she only specified she had not seen Tarou, why didn’t she speak about Yörn as well? And something else clicked on her mind.

“Keigo, when she spoke she used the word -us-.” The boy that set besides her did not seem to understand.

“What do you mean?” And Tatsu discover the wrong point on her speech, that sentence was completely wrong, that entire sentence.

“She used the word us, Keigo. And she was not talking about her baby because why would my brother hold grudges against a baby? There is someone else that she said my brother should not hold grudges again.” He finally seem to be following her line of tough, he got closer to her to ask the next question.

“The executive? Do you think they are still together?”

She felt a shiver run to her body with the pronunciation of that name but she ignored it for now. She needed to find it out, something still did not make sense.

“I don’t think it is him. When I went to her house Shizuru seemed completely devoid of hope, she seemed truthful for the first time I had seen her. And the executive would not win anything making her tell us that, he already have all he could possibly want, from any side I see, that information only hurts him, even if it is false.” Atobe did not answer for a second but soon his face twisted in an amazed expression.

“No it was not just that. Tatsu you told me she still had contact with your brother didn’t you? But every single time she talked about your brother she did it on a past tense! Like she did not have any contact with him anymore. She may have had but she does not anymore.” But that was impossible Tatsu had always took as a certainty that she still had contact with her brother, it made sense, he was why the executive used her so why would they break out of contact.

“That doesn’t make sense, less than 6 months ago, Yörn told me Shizuku still had contact with my brother when he came to Japan to sleep with her.”

The moment she pronounced that sentence, she understood, she understood who was the “us” Shizuru was referring to and who exactly had been in touch with her brother, not telling her anything about it. He understood why he had asked her to talk with Shizuru at first and now, what Shizuru had to gain on telling her that information. They were together. Tatsu would bet everything on the fact that those two were together right now.

 

He picked up his cellphone as soon as he left the boy’s apartment, it was Shizuru, he gave her any excuse and lighted up another cigar, seeing it had stopped raining outside. He thought that soon Tatsu would hate him, soon she would find out he had been meeting her brother. It was not to harm, at start, he just wanted to know how to get inside her heart and he though the brother was the key for it. But he was wrong, and Tatsu’s heart was never and would never be his. He really did help her brother, took him away from the trouble’s he entered and took care of his lifestyle when Ohno had left him without anything, but the boy still hated him, and soon his sister would as well.

Shizuru kept talking on the phone, now he needed to focus on her and on the child they would have. He did not matter it was not his, biologically, he had been wanting a kid for a while and marring her would also solve all his problems with the German press and his sleeping out with fans. Everyone would be happy with this arrangement. He hoped Tatsu would be able to meet her brother again, he hoped they would be able to talk again. To talk and to get what was theirs back. So he left the envelope he had been holding on the boy’s mailbox, there he would fins Tatsu’s address, where she was working and the full information about her boyfriend and the school he went to. He threw away his second cell phone, the one Tatsu had the number to, in a trash can nearby, and when he went to finally pay attention on Shizuru, the only thing on his mind was still Tatsu and how her body had felt on his hands.

“Yörn, come on didn’t you say you were arriving soon?” He said a yes and turned off the phone.

 


	14. Chapter 14: An executive, a rock star, a Japanese lady and a Tennis girl (And how their paths entwined).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confrontation with a liar and the suffering of her brother.

Tatsu stood besides him, she did not say a word, the blond man in front of them, Yörn, did not make a motion to speak either. Atobe wanted for her to shout with the man to hate him but nothing happened, they had been standing there for the past 10 minutes. Atobe wanted her to hate the older man after finding out that he had contact with her brother through all that time, that he knew all what happened to her and that he hid all that information. But the silence persisted until Tatsu opened her mouth.  “Why?”  But the look she had to the older man in front of them was not of hate, but of disappointment, the blond man smiled before he answered.

“If think you can guess some of the reasons already. When I saw you back in Germany there was emptiness in your eyes that I could relate with myself and that made you interesting again. Normally after I sleep with someone that person just leaves my mind, but when I saw you again in Germany and you had that look I finally wanted to have something for an infinite amount of time, you. An obsession for you because we were and we are, both damaged goods, Lolita. At that moment we were both so broken that I wanted us to be together. So I came to Japan back then, I met your brother and I met Ohno, your story was all over the news so it was not difficult to guess the rest. I talked to your brother and, amazingly, he was really interested in hearing news about you so we found a way to exchange contacts without the executive’s influence. To be honest, that guy did not even care about your brother, he had control over your family’s corporation already so it did not matter much to him.”

He made a small pause, Tatsu still had not spoken anything and held the same disappointed look, Atobe did not know what to say either, everything the older man said just annoyed him, it was like he was using Tatsu as an excuse to be awful is like he wanted her to be broken so he could feel better with himself. The blond man kept speaking.

“I found out Shizuru was double teaming me and Tarou so I told you she was the one that had contact with your brother, like that I could control any info that reached you since it was, also, on Ohno’s interest to keep you detached from your brother. I wanted you to stay broken. Was that really bad of me? Probably it was. But I will not apologize, I would, probably, do it again if I had the opportunity. So when you called me, from Japan, saying you had found a boyfriend, everything I had done to keep you broken seemed useless, added to the pressure I was feeling from German press to settle down after some scandals were off, I came to talk with you. That moment I learned of Shizuru’s pregnancy I was going to ignore it completely, but I saw you again.”

He took a step in Tatsu’s direction, Atobe got close to her, the man stopped on his tracks and continued with the rest of his story.

“I saw you again, Tatsu, and you were so fucking beautiful, I saw in you the same way I had seen the day I met you, you smiled and laughed, and I was not the one that gave you all those smiles. It burned me inside I was not the one to do it. But I could not ruin that, it did not matter how awful I was I could not ruin that, I had come to Japan to ask you to marry me but I will not ruin your happiness. I will not ruin the ability of smile you recovered because of this boy. I wish I could have you for myself but I will not do it. I wish I could touch you once more, could kiss you once more.”  He stood his hand to try to touch Tatsu’s face but she grabbed his arm before he could. Her answer was simple and blunt.

“You won’t. You will never touch me, ever again.”

The older man gave a sad smile and let his arm fall.

“I know. When I saw that smile on your face when I returned to Japan I realized I had lost you, so I asked you to visit Shizuru and she showed herself still willing to marry me, so she would not be a single mother and I would have settled down from all the scandals. I will be taking her to Germany today, and you will never see me again. I left your brother with all the information of you, and of Atobe as well, so if he so wishes he will contact you. He still loves you, Tatsu. He cares about you deeply. The last thing, before I leave, Ohno will notice Shizuru is not on Japan anymore and it will not be hard for him to connect the dots, especially that he is not having direct contact with your brother anymore, only with his money. I advise you to be careful, when Ohno feel threatened, he will turn to you, and he will try to scare you out of his way again, or worst. I trust that you, Atobe will keep her safe. Now I take my leave. Have a good life, both of you."

He turned around and did not wait for any answer. Tatsu searched for his hand and said.  “I feel like there is an empty spot in my chest from where a friend used to be.”  Atobe pulled her close and said the words he had been holding. 

“He was never your friend, and you know it. Now, we have more stuff to deal with. The lies have been revealed and now is us against Ohno and we will save your brother on the way. We will.” S he gave him a beautiful smile and stood her hand to him, they still needed to go to Tennis practice today.   
  


Aki had passed the entire day attending the school festival preparations. Not because he cared but because he needed to see that fancy boy again. Discovering he was his sister’s boyfriend was too much. The man he punched was his sister’s boyfriend, that was the amount of bad luck he was having at that week. He hid himself behind a pillar to try to observe again the other school’s booth but there was too many people around when he heard a voice from behind his back.

“Aki, why are to spying on Hyotei’s booths again?”  He turned around to see Fumiko, she was standing with a smile on her face like she had just caught a child doing something wrong, and she had. He tried to just walk it off, going in an opposite direction but that girl was already too used to his ways of avoiding subjects. “Why are you trying to find that guy, Aki, I already apologized for him to you, no need to feel bad about punching him.”  His anger raised a bit and he ended up increasing his voice volume while answering.

“It’s not because I feel bad!”

A second after he said it, he regretted having increased his voice. It always worked like that, shouts, breaking things and then, regret. His anger attacks had been increasing with the pass of the years and he knew he was really close of doing something irrecoverable because of them. But Fumiko did not seem scared at all, she had gone used to them. The young American girl had gotten used of him snapping, how bad that sounded. How awful he felt about making her pass through that, before he could run in shame, she held his arm and stared at his eyes before asking again.

“What is the problem, Aki? You were not yourself the entire day. I would expect you to just go back to practicing basketball but no, you came to help on the festival booth but in the end you are just staring at the other school people. Did something happen? Did that rich boy do something?”

He saw how worried she was from that look. She cared. Fumiko really did care about him. She was someone completely outside of everything on his life. She did not even know his real surname or where he had come from, but she cared. That made him want to tell her, at least some things, could he? At least show her a small part of his heart. He wanted to let go of one small secret at that moment, so he said it.

“The guy I punched. I did not know him yesterday, but I discovered he is my sister’s boyfriend. That is why I am spying on his booth I want to know what type of person he is and why is my sister with him.”  He opened his heart and told her that small piece of information, he was expecting she would laugh, but no, her eyes widened and she smiled back at him.

“Impressive! Your sister must be amazing for her to date that guy! He seems to have quite a fan club!”  Akihiko did not know how to react and just whispered an agreement. He tried to ask more about the guy, though; he still wanted to know who he was.

“Do you know anything about that guy?”  Fumiko turned her head in a thinking expression before answering.

“I just know all girls from my classroom seem to love him and that he is really rich and has a huge fan club. When I talked with him, he seemed a bit flamboyant, is that the word you use in Japanese? But in the end he was nice.”

So, the Atobe guy was not a total asshole, Aki thought. The blond girl did not ask anything else, seeming content with that little piece of information he had shared. Before she turned to leave, he asked her.

“If you notice anything weird about that guy tell me! Also tomorrow, during the festival,  if you see his girlfriend, my sister. Tell me, please.”  The petite blond girl game him a soft smile in agreement and left. Somehow his chest seemed a bit less heavy from that tiny conversation and he cursed that.   
  


For the first time, Atobe had skipped a practice. He did not answer his phone and Tatsu was already getting worried when 15 minutes of the training had passed not even Kabaji, from the other Hyotei members, knew where he was. She decided to call his house and when she did it a familiar female voice was the one that answered the phone, it was Valentine Atobe, his mother.

“Oh, Tatsu-chan I just knew you would call the house when my dear son did not answer his phone, so I was waiting for your call.”  Tatsu made a small pause, she did not expect Ms. ATobe would be the first to answer she should be traveling outside Japan on this week, but gathered her courage and asked.

“Is Keigo alright? He did not appear for the practice.”  There was a laugh from the other side of the line.

“Yes my lovely son is fine! He is here at home. Pass here after the practice I will ask the servants to make some tea for the two of you! How the young love is beautiful!”  And before she could answer, Ms. Atobe had already turned off the call.

So just after practice she took a quick shower and put some less casual clothes, a white silk summer dress with a jacket and thigh highs would be fine, the end of October was not cold enough for her to need warmer clothes. In less than 30 minutes she was entering the big doors of the main house on Atobe’s mansion and being greeted by Valentine Atoeb herself.

“Oh, Tatsu-chan! Glad you joined me this evening I was just so bored abroad so I came back to my lovely home. I absolutely adore your dress, even not having your mother’s natural style you are still so beautiful!”  She kept talking and reminiscing about the past for the next minutes, while Tatsu was being lead upstairs, this mansion was just so huge that the young woman got lost in the way, this was, at least, double the size of her family’s house. The talking about her mother, also, did not bother her anymore. After she had made up with their souls on the graveyard Tatsu welcome those kind of conversations and even smiled a bit on some parts of Ms. Atobe’s rambling. They arrived on a big door in the end of a corridor, which Atobe’s mother opened slowly, whispering a sentence.

“My son has been working and practicing too much this past days so he ended up falling asleep as soon as he passed home to eat after the festival preparations, when I saw it I took his phones from his side to let him sleep. I hope you take good care of him, Tatsu-chan.”

Entering the room Tatsu could clearly see Atobe sleeping over the table on the center, there were documents on the floor that seemed to have fell from his hands and unfinished tea in front of the place his head was resting. When she took a step forward, she heard the voice form Ms. Atobe behind her wishing her luck and closing the door. The girl went on the direction of his sleeping figure picking up the papers that were scattered on the way, she glanced at them and saw they were mostly about her family’s company situation. He had been using his entire free time to make things better for her, her chest tightened only thinking about it.

Tatsu stood behind him and touched his hair, she felt him shifting a bit his head but welcoming the touch, he probably had been sleeping since before practice and she needed to move him to his bed, sleeping like that would make him have an awful backache on the next morning. She tried calling his name multiple times but Atobe seemed to be on deep sleep so she moved the chair from the table, using her hands to not let him fall, he still did not wake up, but made some unrecognizable grunts. She tried to support his taller body with hers but they would have fallen if the table was not close by, Tatsu had to activate some of her extra strength to move him to the bed, still impressed he did not wake up. When he got laid on the bed, though, she clearly could hear he whispering her name so she leaned down and left a small kiss on his cheek.

“I love you, Keigo.”  She whispered, removing his tie and opening some of the buttons on his school uniform to give him more comfort, before leaving the side of the bed to pick up the rest of the papers. He had been tiring himself so much, only for her, practicing Tennis, leading student council and still making time to deal with his family’s business and all her problems, it did not matter how much she tried to not think about it but, in her mind, he was still too good for her. Tatsu saw him switching his position a bit in bed, now laying with his back to her, he really did move a lot while sleeping, she was impressed he had not fall from the chair earlier.

There was a voice coming from the door before she could read the documents, it was Atobe’s mother calling her.

“Now that you took care of my precious son, let’s have some tea. You can also bring all this documents, they will be pertinent to our conversation.”  Was what she heard from the older woman when she opened the door. Tatsu asked herself for a second how did Ms. Atobe know exactly the moment to come talk with her and what was on the documents, but she promptly follow her outside the room and to an illuminated balcony where there was a table served with two pieces of cake and a fancy looking tea set, Valentine Atobe took the set on the left and motioned for the servants to leave them alone. Tatsu took the seat in front of her, feeling the chilling sensation coming from the night air outside, still it was a beautiful view from the mansion’s gardens.

She was apprehensive for this conversation and the older woman in front of her seemed to notice it and focus on drinking her tea, she had an slightly idea on what Ms. Atobe wanted and that made her hand shiver a bit over the documents she still held. It was highly likely Atobe’s mother wanted to discuss her family situation, he had mentioned with Tatsu before, his parents knew something had happened on her past and that he did not tell them her story, it was something she would have to decide when she wanted to make public.

The older woman seemed to get tired of the silence and started speaking.

“My husband really wanted to meet you before we went abroad but Keigo-chan stopped him from it and I guess you know why, don’t you?”  For the first time, that woman had dropped her teasing smile and had a serious face to Tatsu, so she decided to answer on the same serious tone, the woman had helped her in the past and she was Atobe’s mother. Somewhere inside, she knew getting the full approval of his family would not be as easy as it had been until that point. 

“Yes, I know why. I would guess your husband suspects that something happened after my parents death for that man to assume the company, and for the fact that my brother is somewhere else and not with me. So he wanted to question me about it because, as you two suspect, I have some of the answers.”

Valentine dropped her serious face and laughed, what made Tatsu a bit more uncomfortable, talking about that executive already made her hands shake a bit, what she hid under the table.

“Yes, pretty much that, Tatsu-chan. We have not made any contact with you on the past because Sakaki-kun convinced us that you needed to recover before talking about it. But it angers my husband a lot when he sees his friend’s work, your father’s work in the hands of someone like Ohno.”  She speaking that name with such casualty made a shiver pass through Tatsu’s spine but she continue holding her pose and the older woman’s look, when valentine continue speaking.

“And it… Annoys? Is that the world? It annoys me a lot when I see my best friend’s art work being sold to random second class museums around Japan. I think you can understand that.”

There was a short pause on the woman’s discourse, Tatsu did not know how to answer, she still did not have the strength to stand the story without Atobe by her side, she was still too weak for that, but she had to say something, the older woman was right, it was not fair that her parents life work had fell in someone else’s hands, so she gathered the rest of the will and answered.

“You are right. You and your husband are right. I cannot, right now, share the story of what happened with someone that it is not Keigo because of my own weakness and because it would backlash on my brother. I know that making him my only confident is resulting on him using all his free time to try to help my family’s situation and I apologize for that. I did not want to drag him into my personal hell but..”

Before she could continue, there was a finger on top of her lips, belonging to the woman that now stood beside her chair.

“You did not let me finish, Tatsu-chan. Your family was formed of our closest friends so you are also part of this friendship. We know you suffered, even not knowing what happened it is clear. Your hands are shaking and you are trying hard to hold yourself right now without my son here. So trust me when I say that we will assist you on it and I hope that when my husband comes back to Japan, you would meet him on a formal dinner as our son’s future fiancée.”  The teasing smile got wider on the woman’s lips and she went a step back, making a slight move that she would hug Tatsu but giving up in the middle of the motion and turning around to leave the balcony, saying one final sentence while her silver dress floated behind her.

“You should spend the night, Keigo-chan would be mad if I sent you home this late.”  Tatsu smiled to that. To think that Ms. Atobe had so much love for her parents she was ready to stand by her side even not knowing her story. It made her want to get better faster, so she would be able to tell her story to them, and maybe, one day with Atobe by her side, she could try. So she finished eating her cake and went back to his room, seeing he had already thrown two of his pillows on the floor. She giggled a bit with the sight and took off her jackets and her shoes, laying by his right side and resting her head on his chest, hoping he would not kick her from bed again.   
  


Shizuru looked at her new home, displeased. One of her precious hair ornaments had broken on the trip and she always had considered that the biggest sign of bad luck, Yörn was out, composing on his studio and she had been left alone on the new apartment in Germany trying to organize everything. Opening his bag she found a package containing letters, and paying close attention, those were letters from Tatsu. As always the younger girl getting all the attention that was supposed to be only hers. She did not understand why, she was more beautiful, more well-mannered, dressed way better but still that younger girl always got everything. So she took out a lighter from Yörn’s belongings and burned all the letters, making sure to perfectly clean the floor afterwards.   
  


Atobe woke up without the common sound of his alarm clock and feeling his body a bit heavier than it should be, he tried to move his arm but couldn't so he finally opened his arms to see what was making all that extra weight on his body. The first thing he saw was Tatsu’s long black hair disheveled around his bed and his body, her head was laid on his right shoulder and she held unto his hand. All the memories from the last day came to his mind, especially the lack of memories of anything after he sipped his tea at home, he had fallen asleep and Tatsu came, probably worried for him. Somehow she ended up sleeping by his side, she shivered a bit, the sun still had not risen and her summer dress was too cold for the morning sir. He searched for the cover and noticed he had stolen it all for himself during the night, when he tried to cover her back he heard her voice.

“You move too much during the night, hmm”  She said that snuggling closer to his arm. He smirked back, enjoying her morning face.

“Anh, and what are you even doing in my bed?”  Tatsu smiled back at him before answering.

“It’s because someone overworked himself and missed the Tennis practice yesterday.”  Her voice took a worried tone and she passed her hand on his cheek, she continued.

“Don’t overwork yourself, Keigo, I am here to support you as well, so let me help.” “I must be really doing something wrong when you are telling me about sharing problems, anh, Neko-chan? I will not miss anymore practices, you don’t need to worry.”  He pulled her closer to him, liking the feel of waking up with her on his arms and pulled her lips to his. Caring so much about him and worrying so much made her so cute for him. The kiss was soft, both of them still waking up slowly and it was suddenly broken by the sound of his alarm, telling him that was the normal time for him to rise.

“Hn,Tatsu, I need to get up, today is the cultural festival.”  She snuggled a bit on his bed letting go of his arm while he got up and he finally noticed how her white dress had gone up during the night, almost hitting her hips, the white thigh highs she was wearing just made the scene even more erotic for him, the way her body moved on the bed, still half awaking made him use all his self-control to be able to go to the bathroom and start his day.

 

The flight attendant served more Dom Perignon wine on his glass while he carelessly shuffled through the papers full of information in front of him. He did not care how the first class attendants stared at him for having reserved the entire area for himself. There was a slight turbulence on the flight what made some of his wine spill, he promptly blamed the attendant that had just served him and demanded she would be fired when they landed, the tears the young woman spilled did not matter at all for him and he kept passing through all the information in front of him.

Some of his sources reported that stupid woman, Shizuru, had left Japan, and that was something that was completely out of his expected results. He expected that after she came to him talking about the pregnancy and he discarded her, like she deserved, that she would keep begging for his money and attention just to not have her honor tainted for being a single mother. But no, she had not contacted him anymore and she had left the country, going to Germany, he made a mental note to discover the exact situations that made her leave, maybe he could use her again in the future.

But the most important report was that his favorite little girl had found a boyfriend, and he was the Atobe’s family heir. That family that always got on his way when he tried to get more power over the Japan market. He could sense that this was something that would try to bring him down. He doubted the little kitty could fight against him, she was probably still so psychologically damaged from everything that had happened to be able to even hear his voice without breaking down. But if Atobe family was behind her, it was possible it would be an annoyance. He decided he would personally make her a visit and if he could not find her, he would use the boy to manipulate her again.

The boy, It had been years he left the boy alone in Japan after he got all his properties and the total control of the company, he had no need for him anymore, so he just sent one of his agents once or twice a month to check if the boy was alive. Letting him die would not be fortunate now. His sister, though, the little kitty, she disappearing would be even better for him, maybe with a personal visit he could finally make her kill herself. After that would just be leaking some information on media she had direct connection with her parents kidnapping and after years, killed herself because of guilt. Would be a first page worthy news, for sure.

Ohno put his glass up, motioning the new flight attendant, this time a prettier one, to bring him more. When she returned with his wine, he grabbed her by the shoulders, throwing her on the floor in front of him.  “I am in the mood for receiving a blow job. Do it now.”  He said while she looked at him, scared.

 

Fumiko had been standing on the entrance of the school, greeting everybody entering the festival. She enjoyed the job, it was easier and nothing very physically demanding. But her main reason of being here was to try to find Aki’s sister. She had been so happy yesterday when he finally told a little bit about himself to her that now her objective was finding his sister and telling him where she was. It passed through her head multiple times she would not be able to recognize her, but she would not give up. She tried to stand near the Atobe boy festival booth but his fan club had kicked her out from there so standing on the entrance was her final option.

All her doubts disappeared when she saw the next woman that was approaching. Her long black hair felt through her back and her perfectly fitting pants made her even more stunning to everyone around, on that second, Fumiko knew she was Aki’s sister. They had the exact same aura around them, an aura that made people too scared to approach, but for her, that aura only dragged even more of her attention. She gave the common greeting to the beautiful lady and when she passed through the gate, Fumiko left her post to go find Aki, sharing the news she had found his sister 


	15. Chapter 15: A Happiness That Leads to a Storm Part 1 - Improvement.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two siblings finally speak, but its not in a way any of them had imagined.

_“Understand what I've become_   
_It wasn't my design_   
_And people everywhere think_   
_Something better than I am_   
_But I miss you, I miss”_   
**Ode to my family – The Cranberries**

   
Tatsu walked around the student booths feeling gazes on her back, it was a normal occurrence for her so she ignored all the stares and went directly to Atobe’s booth. She had promised to check the other regular’s festival activities also but she would pass to see what Keigo was up to first, his mother had a lot of fun teasing them about sleeping together during breakfast, what made him leave the table prematurely and Tatsu to laugh at his expenses.

 Finding his festival booth was easy, there was a huge building in the middle of one of the open courts that would be a perfect café in the 18th century England, even the wallpaper used looked pretty much like the 1800’s walls for afar. And Tatsu knew the only person to do a middle school festival booth as fancy as that was the one and only Atobe Keigo. Approaching the café she was promptly greeted by Taki that used a way too social suit for anywhere but a ballroom.

“Tatsu-chan!  Welcome to our beautiful English café! Let me serve you for today.” He gave her a prominent bow while telling her to get in. Tatsu gave a slight look to the size seeing the huge line of girls also waiting to go in, most of them using the Hyotei uniform and she gave them a slight smirk before following Taki inside.

 The inside decorations of the place were as amazing as the ones outside, she really could feel in another century, even the ambient music fitted perfectly, they really did an amazing job putting this place up. Tatsu managed to take a glance at Atobe from afar but he was busy attending a table full of giggling girls. Being led by Taki, she set on a table with a reserved sign that was promptly removed by him and, with another exaggerated bow, he gave her a fancy menu and left her table, going on Atobe’s direction.

 He, finally, looked on her direction, and was greeted by the biggest smirk she could conjure at that moment what made him promptly go talk with her.

“You should have let me know when you were arriving so I could greet you outside, anh?” He also had a social suit on, but his was white, what contrasted to the other waiter’s black suits, combined with a Hyotei blue bowtie and with his hair slightly slid back. It was not Tatsu’s favorite style, for sure, but she could not argue he still looked amazingly hot wearing it.

“You can stare as much as you would like, Neko-chan.” He said, noticing the older girl’s gaze on his clothes. She would not let that slight teasing slide and gave him a quick answer.

“Oh, so that is how waiters treat clients on this café? The service seems very sub-par.” She grinned while saying it. Atobe looked taken aback for a second but assumed a butler attitude, continuing their little play.

“I mean, Ojou-sama have you decided what you are going to order?” Tatsu laughed out loud what made the discomfort be clear on his face.

“What do you recommend me?” She made sure to give him her charming smile.

“Chateaubriand steak and a Faux Cake as desert.” The girl could see he was trying really hard to keep his composure so she said, on the same tone of voice she had asked last question.

“Can I have the waiter also as desert?” He gasped in surprise and almost let the tray he was holding, fall. Everybody around looked at them and the chatty girls from before were staring glares at Tatsu but she was too focused on Atobe to notice. Still blushing he retrieved the menus and went to the back of the establishment, disappearing through a door while his girlfriend laughed.

 He came back 20 minutes later with his school uniform and set on the chair in front of Tatsu.

“There, now you have the waiter, happy, anh?” She was amazed but smiled back teasing him while their food arrived.

“It was not quite like I imagined but, thanks, Keigo, let’s enjoy our food.” He got up from his chair again and kissed her lips.

“Hn, now we can eat.”

   
Aki stared at the expensive looking festival booth from afar, Fumiko was just beside him talking

“I am sure it was your sister! She was really pretty and everybody around was looking at her!” The blond girl was giggling happy about her discovery. His mind was working tough; he did not know exactly what he would do, or what he should do. Somehow he just really wanted to see her again, it had been so long, and the last time she was. He did not want to remember how pale, how hurt and how sick she was. But the image returned to his mind and he clenched his fists only thinking about it.

 The blond girl by his side talked again.

“Aki? Are you alright? Do you want to enter there to talk with her?” His anger disappeared and it turned into panic. No she could not see him, she just could not.

“No, she can’t see me here. I will hurt her, girl I need you to help me tail her without her noticing. Can you do that?” The little girl seemed confused for a second but nodded in response and they moved to a secluded corner, hidden by a stud and waited.

 The feelings inside of Aki were so confused at that moment, his anger attacks were on a side of his mind and the other side was filled with a will to run as far as he could so he would not face Tatsu again. But he was still there, somehow he still wanted to see her. Every minute that passed made his uncontrollable will even higher, almost breaking him in half. But it all ended when she appeared. He could clearly see it was her, it didn’t matter her hair was longer or that she was using a style very different from the one she had when they were younger. A warm feeling appeared in his chest and started growing. It really was his sister and she looked beautiful and, most importantly, happy. A boy left the café just behind her, Aki could easily recognize him as the rich guy he punched. Atobe pulled Tatsu for a kiss in the middle of the festival and went back inside the building, what made her brother almost leave his spot and go punch him again.

 He followed her with his eyes for some time, until she decided to go to another corridor of the festival. Aki’s body started moving again and he trailed behind her. He could not understand why. He just wanted to keep that good feeling rising, he could not see anything else in front of him just Tatsu and her long black hair. She stopped on another booth and he just stood in the middle of everybody staring at her. She was laughing and smiling to a red-haired boy in front of her. His sister could laugh again. After everything she could laugh and be happy, she had friends, and a boyfriend. He was so glad it had not destroyed her life completely, that he did not destroy her life. Tears started falling from his eyes for the first time in 5 years but he just noticed them when he heard Fumiko calling his name.

 He turned to the blond girl for a second, to tell her everything was fine but before he could mutter the first word it came a shout from the front of him

“Aki!” He knew this voice, it was his sister’s voice, the tears kept falling and when he turned back to her and they locked eyes with each other he realized just how much he had missed her. How much he hoped every single day for her to be alright, how much he wanted to just be a family with her again, to have a family again. But then he remembered why he could not. He had done that, he had made her suffer on the time she needed him the most, he had been used and got close to destroying her life because of that. So he turned around and ran away. He shoved everybody out of his way and just kept running without clear destination. Aki did not feel anymore anger just a sadness so strong it threatened to crush his heart. So he ran even more.

   
Sakaki was arriving back on the Tokyo airport that afternoon. His time abroad made him clear his head a bit, even with the news that woman, his former fiancée was now getting married. He did not feel jealous or sad but a sense of solitude was lingering on his head. He blamed that on his old age, it was making him soft in his head. Sakaki Tarou was married only to music; music would be his only and his final wife. But that loneliness had not left his head for a long time already.

 He picked up his luggage and was entering the main hall on the airport when he saw a familiar figure. Followed by 7 armed bodyguards there one of his former co-workers, Ohno, stood. Sakaki felt his stomach turn form the sight of the man. They had never been friends even while working for the Fujiwara family, there was always something… disgusting on Ohno for him. But others did not seem to notice, even after the Fujiwara’s had died, they still seemed to not notice.

 For Tarou, though, everything about that man seemed odd. From the robotic way he showed emotions to the blank look he had towards other’s happiness. He knew Ohno should not have stayed ruling the Fujiwara’s business and he knew the way Tatsu was after her parents death had something to do with it. But every single time he tried to get her to talk she would just closed herself even more on her own world.

Ohno saw him, he did not make any gesture recognizing Sakaki’s presence but their eyes crossed each other’s. And Hyotei’s music teacher felt something bad was about to happen. He had never trusted in emotions or feeling but at that single moment when Ohno saw him and went to the other direction, Sakaki would bet everything there was a big storm incoming on the horizon.

 And he needed to discuss it with Tatsu. There was a big storm incoming on her direction.

 

 It was after lunch time according to the hospital staff around him. He was still trying his best to move properly but it wasn’t working and he was getting desperate thinking he would not be healed until the nationals. And the desperation combined with the post-surgery pain made Yukimura lose everything calm and serene about himself.  
“Genichiro! Don’t look with pity at me! I can do this.” The boy sitting beside him arched his eyebrows with Seiichi sudden outburst but did not say anything back.

 And the regret came he had shouted without someone he loved because of his physical inability to move properly after everything that happened. He had been naïve to believe just after the surgery he would be able to play Tennis normally but that is not how medicine works. That is not how life works. He looked back at Sanada but there still was no reaction from him. Every single day after the surgery he came to visit Yukimura, and every single day Yukimura showed him sides of himself he disliked.

 He wanted to believe he was improving, that the physical therapy and all the medicines would help him get better but it was not easy. Everything made his head hurt and walking was almost impossible but Sanada was there and he touched Seiichi’s shoulder while everything was passing through his head, while he was cursing himself for not being improving faster.

“Seiichi, you can do it.” Were the words he needed to try to get up again. He used Sanada’s arm as one of his supports and put his trembling right leg on the floor, the small sentence Sanada said made him try harder what caused his leg to tremble a bit less. Yukimura moved his body closer to the edge of the bed feeling the scar on his chest pull a bit, the stitches still had not been removed.

 Sanada held his left arm to help him get up, the effects of the general anesthesia he had received still apparent on his body. He could not feel his legs properly and even Sanada’s touch on him did not feel exactly the same. It was like there was an impenetrable layer between his skin and anything else. He tried to put his body up once, but the pain on his chest was too big and he fell back on bed. The taller boy made a move to hold him but he brushed it off, trying to stand again.

 This time he did get up. His legs were still shaking and he was having help from Sanada but he did get up. And that made some of the desperation Yukimura was holding inside of him fade away. He wanted more, he wanted to prove to his boyfriend, holding him, that he could do more. He tried to take a step. The pain on his chest almost blinding him and his legs shaking terribly but he did take a step and Sanada hugged him just after it.

 “Nice, Seiichi, you made it. You really made it.” Yukimura hugged him back, feeling a bit of his touch returning, was this what was considered improvement? He needed to improve more, he needed to be able to move his body completely until the national finals. He wanted to beat Seigaku so much. To beat that brat that dared to win against his Sanada. And he would, after passing through all of that he knew he would. So he shifted his body a bit in Sanada’s arms and looked up at him.

 “I will play on the finals, Genichiro.” The only answer his boyfriend gave was a smile, normally so rare on Sanada’s permanent angry face. What made Seiichi ignore his pain a bit more and leaned to kiss him. It did not matter he still could not feel properly and that his legs were shaking. Sanada was there with him and he would get better, regain his former form and beat Seigaku at the nationals.

   
Tatsu could feel a different sensation when she said a quick see you soon to Atobe and left his café, he still needed to work there for a couple of hours, she kept walking towards the other Tennis club regular’s booths. Just being on a school festival made some nostalgic feeling appear on her head. She wish she would have enjoyed her middle school more, that she would have made more friends, enjoyed it more outside Tennis, she couldn’t even remember what she did for her school festival. It had been so long ago.

 The girl heard someone calling her from her right side, it was Mukahi standing near some kind of gaming booth. The acrobatic boy started talking fast about the rules for his booth while the nostalgia feeling kept growing on her mind. Her thoughts went to her brother, she did not feel as much pain as she used to feel before with thinking about him, she still felt guilt, but it was more guilt for not being with him than guilt for everything that happened, she wished from deep inside her heart he was doing well right now. And that, maybe, one day they would be able to see each other again. She smiled slightly thinking about that.

 Mukahi stopped his speech about the booth and pointed to something from the way she had come.

“Tatsu-chan, there is someone staring at you.” He said. She turned around and her mind went blank when she saw who was the one staring at her. It was a tall black haired boy staring fixedly, she did not need a second look to tell who he was. Her brother Akihiko Fujiwara was standing there looking at her, there were tears falling from his eyes and Tatsu felt her heart was going to burst out at that moment. Their sights crossed, Aki looked afraid, and before she said anything he turned away and ran. In an impulse, she followed him.

 Her shoulders were bumping against others in the crowd, getting complains being thrown at her but nothing mattered. Tatsu wanted to talk with him so she followed, she needed to go after him to solve that burning feeling she had on her chest. Months ago seeing him would break her, for sure, but now. Now she had enough courage to go after him and it did not matter how much he ran, she would be after. The girl noticed they were going out of the festival area and approaching the other school buildings, Aki was still some meters in front of her, his taller body and her tight clothes did not help her catch up. He did not look back while entering at one of the school buildings and rushing upstairs, she followed right behind, losing sight of him for a couple of seconds and promptly shouting his name. There was no reaction, reaching the second floor, she saw his back entering in one of the classrooms in the right and closing the door behind him.

 “Akihiko!” Tatsu called again, knocking on the door in front of her and trying to push it open. But there was no answer from inside the room, no single sound was heard from inside. She was still breathless after all the running, her chest still hurt, she wanted to apologize, just 5 minutes for her to apologize it was all that she asked for. There was a screeching noise coming from inside the room so she called one more time. “Aki! Please I just want to talk. I need to talk with you.” She gave him the opportunity to answer again but nothing came from the other side of the door. Her head leaned on the door and she decided to believe he was, at least listening to her. And with that on mind she started again.

 “Aki… It has been a while hasn’t it? I will believe you are on the other side of the door listening to me. And I will tell you what I want to tell you. You don’t need to answer me and, honestly, I would not know how to react if you did. It just, has been so long. You grew up so much, Aki. Fuck, I followed you with a reason and now I can’t even say it. It just feels so selfish from my part to apologize. To ask of you to accept my apologies after all I have done, after all that happened. I can’t expect you would ever accept this. But I missed you and I miss you every single day because you exist. You are here in this world so I miss you and I am sorry. I am sorry for leaving you alone, I am sorry for not trying to contact you through all this years and…” She took a pause, it still hurt so much to say this out loud, but she needed to say it, so Tatsu took a deep breath and said it. “I am sorry for what happened to our parents, Aki. I really am. I won’t hold it if you still won’t want any contact with me because of it but I needed to take everything of my chest.

There was another sound coming from the other side of the door, it seemed like something shattering in pieces. Tatsu felt so light after saying all of that, even without Aki’s forgiveness, she had apologized and that was enough on that point. That had been another step in direction of the light. In direction of the light Atobe had showed her, that even she would be able to reach. Her voice was failing and she was on the verge of tears but she held herself together and whispered a last sentence through the door. “Aki, I hope you can reach your happiness, I wish I could be a part of it, a part of your future, but if I won’t, I will be satisfied if you are happy. You are my brother, and them stripping me off my surname won’t change that.”

 The door opened with Tatsu’s weight on it, but, when she entered the room, there was no one inside. The window on the furthermost wall was opened. She did not feel like running after him anymore, she had said her part and now was his decision to exclude her of his life, or not. When she approached the window to close it she heard footsteps entering in the room behind and they were followed by a female voice. “Did you see a tall black haired boy running this way?” The voice came for a tiny blond haired girl, she had bright blue eyes and spoke Japanese with a clear English accent. Tatsu remembered seeing her at the entrance of the festival, and she laughed a bit of the situation of being talking to one of her brother’s friends right now.

 “I followed Aki here but it seems he jumped through the window to run.” Tatsu tried to hide her good mood, she had been told too many times her way of speaking scared others. The blond girl talked again.

“Oh, did you two fight? I really hope you did not fight. He was so different while he talked about you, it was like even a bit of happiness passed through his mind. And Aki is not normally happy, you know?  He is very scary most of the times and always has a scowl on his face!” The younger girl started to ramble endlessly about Aki, what made Tatsu laugh even more. She felt so light after saying all of that. When she re-focused her attention on the ramble she caught a small phrase.

 “… also I hope you are not mad because he punched your boyfriend.” Who punched what? Tatsu asked herself, after some seconds her curiosity made her ask.

“Aki punched who?” The little girl seemed like a child just noticing she had said something she shouldn’t.

“Anh… Aki, got into a discussion with… Atobe-san…” That was all that it was needed to make her laugh out loud, what made the younger girl even more scared.

“Haha, so Aki was the one that punched Keigo?”  The younger girl made a small nod in agreement and Tatsu laughed even more.

   
Atobe was, finally, done with his festival project. He had arranged with Tatsu to meet him on the entrance gate 10 minutes ago but she was nowhere to be seen, when he was ready to call her, she appeared in front of him laughing.

“Anh, you are late, Tatsu.” He said, annoyed. He still had not forget all her teasing inside the café, it had almost made he ignore his beautiful - sleeping with her after he beats Seigaku – plans. She laughed a bit before she answered.

“Yes I am. I was having a very interesting conversation.” He made a questioning face when she got close to him and touched his cheek, her fingers lined his lips and he kissed them tenderly and after, asked.

“Interesting conversation with who?” She took her hands off his face and took his hand, moving to the parked vehicle that was supposed to take them home.

He asked again, when they were inside. And, this time, she answered.

“Oh, I saw my brother and one of his friends told me he was the guy that punched you.”


	16. Chapter 16: A Happiness That Leads to a Storm Part 2 - Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going against the abuser for the first time.

####  Chapter 16: A Happiness That Leads to a Storm Part 2 - Ghost.

_ “There were no ghosts. Only memory.” _

―  **Stephen King, Lisey's Story.**

_ “So much for innocence, _

_ It really messed us up back then. _

_ Anesthesia’s slowly wearing thin…” _

**Sixx A.M. - Codependence  
  
**

Aki missed another shot. He hadn’t been able to do anything right since he saw Tatsu. It was Sunday afternoon already and he still had not recovered. After seeing her it was so difficult to kill the hope that now resided on his chest. He did attend to every single class after that and did not cause any trouble, what was a new thing for him. He, also, did not have any anger attacks during those days.

Fumiko had tried to speak with him, to ask him why he ran. He did not answer because he could not. He had acted like a kid and ran away again. His own sister had opened her heart to him and the only thing he could do was to run. His fists clenched while he walked back home, thinking about how childish he acted. The worst part is that he knew that if he could somehow go back in time for the moment Tatsu called him, he would have done the same. He was not ready to forgive himself for what he had done and he doubted he ever would be.

Aki took a shortcut to get to his apartment and when approaching the location he could see expensive SUV’s parked nearby. He was fast enough to hide behind a wall in one of the skid rows around, before any of the man leaving the vehicles could see him. He had already deal with Yörn but this one was way worst. This one would have no problems destroying others completely to archive what he wanted, he had done it in the past with Tatsu and Aki thought he was here to guarantee that what he stole would continue being his.

He saw the security guards approaching the building and entering, he knew the best plan right now would be talking to the man, Ohno, and lie to him. Go there and tell him nothing had changed, that he still held his full cooperation that he and Tatsu had not encountered each other, that she was still completely broken by him. That would be the best way to solve everything, the best way to guarantee no harm would come to his sister. But his legs didn’t move. He watched as the security guard went upstairs to his apartment and took long hours inside, he watched them coming down and speaking to a man, probably Ohno, through a car window, he watched as one of the cars kept parked in front of his home and the other two, left.

He knew where they were going next. If they could not find him, the next objective would be to go after Tatsu. To use one Fujiwara against the other, like Ohno did on the past. And again he couldn’t do anything; his fear for that man was stronger than his will to protect his sister. God, how he despised himself at that moment, how he wish he had saved her contacts somewhere else and not inside his apartment. If he could, at least, tell her they were going after her. He knew where her house was so, as soon as his legs started moving again he went on that direction. He would not be able to get there faster than the cars but he needed to do something. Tatsu’s smile played back on his memory and he ran even faster he could not let that man to take away her smile again. He would not let it happen again.

He ran for almost three hours before he arrived near the location and saw the cars already parked outside. The lights were on inside the house but he could not hear anything. One of the security guards left Tatsu’s house and went to speak with the man on the main car’s window. Aki was sure it was Ohno in there. The guard took a step back and opened the car door, a few seconds later Aki confirmed his suspicions.

Ohno looked exactly like he used to. It was the same dark green suit and the same really short hair, Aki felt his legs fail and he had to lean on the small to not fall down. All his members were shaking and the memories for everything that man had said to him started returning. How he had torn apart dozens of his family pictures in front of his eyes, making him keep cooperating after he realized what had actually happened to Tatsu, the small dark room he had lived in, from where he could listen Ohno fucking Shizuru clearly. She tried to make his life a little less miserable in two occasions but her own pride and dependence on the executive stopped her. Aki did not hold any grudges against her.

When he managed to re-focus on reality and take his mind off the past, Ohno was nowhere to be seen, he had probably, entered in the house. Aki could not decide in what to do, his legs were stuck again, due to have seen that man, but he could not let Tatsu suffer alone inside the house, the moment he picked up his cellphone to call the police he saw Ohno and his guards leaving the house, he still could not hear anything coming from inside. He finished calling the cobs again and stayed there observing until the last black SUV disappeared from his sight and the police arrived.

Aki approached the house, pretending to be a passerby attracted by the police arriving, he was sure Tatsu had not left the house with the executive’s bodyguards so he needed to know if she was alright but when he stood in front of the door, the house was opened but no one was inside. He felt the dread sensation he had felt disappear a bit. At least she had not been home. The boy tried to get closer to look at what had happened inside to be stopped by a police officer. “Kid, what are you doing here?” It startled him a bit so he took some seconds to answer.

“Anh… What happened here… officer?” The officer looked at him from top to bottom, before deciding he was not a threat.

“hm… someone invaded this person’s house, it seems like a form of harassment.” Harassment. That word played over and over on his head. What had that man done now? Aki asked himself.

He used his height to take a glance inside the house. And what he saw made his legs fail. There were pieces of torn photos all around the floor and some red ink on the walls, he could not see the entire sentence but he could guess what it said with the first three letters: K-I-L. The officer turned back and saw him kneeling on the floor after having seen that.

“Kid, what happened? Are you alright?” The officer approached him but his legs started working again and he ran back to the alley he had come from. When he made sure the officer was not following him, his body leaned on the nearby wall and he closed his eyes. He wanted to break her mind again, that was his plan. He couldn’t find Aki so he would break Tatsu’s mind. His fist smashed the wall behind him while his body slid to the floor, trying to think what to do to make his sister never see what had been done to her house.   
  
  


Tatsu woke up a few minutes after she had just fallen asleep. She could see Atobe sleeping soundly by her side, they had won the last tournament before the nationals and now Hyotei would be attending. They had all celebrated and promised they would train twice as much for the nationals that would start in a couple of weeks. Why did she feel so awful then? It was like her stomach was turning and her head was killing her, she had not felt like this since the day on Shizuru’s house. Of course the news that the executive was back to Japan shook her a little, but she trusted Atobe. She trusted that with him there things would be different. Even with the sensation she had of someone following her and the fact every time her phone rang it sent a shiver down her spine.

She glanced at Atobe again, his hair was disheveled and his arms hung loosely around her body, she smiled a bit, the strange sensation leaving her body bit by bit until her phone rung. The similar shiver ran down her spine before she looked at the screen , saying it was Tarou Sakaki calling her. Keigo did not wake up. She answered the phone fast, whispering back to the phone, trying to not wake up the boy sleeping besides her.

“What is up for you to be calling this late, Tarou.”

When she heard the voice coming from the other side of the line. Not the voice she had been expecting at all. But another voice. One that she would not remember, and that made her body start shaking, her mouth to go dry and her body to freeze. “If it isn’t the small little kitty.” How he had called her again and how was it from Tarou’s phone? She had changed numbers after that last call. “No answer? I expected more for you, little kitty, my sources told me you have been very bold on your alliances as, as you can imagine, I don’t enjoy that.” She tried to move her body to wake up Atobe, she did try to but nothing worked. When that man was speaking the only thing that appeared on her body was pain.

“Also your little brother seemed to have ran away from me, kitty? What do you think I should do with him? I would say capturing him again is top priority, so I tried to give you a visit but you were not home either. So naughty from your part, Tatsu-chan. Not be there when I needed a little favor. I even was a nice person and allowed you to live. But now I see I should have left just one of you alive since the start, so we would not be having this problem now. So who will it be, you or your brother?” Ohno spoke.

Tatsu tried to focus on the important information. Keigo had taught her in moments like that she needed to focus on the information he was giving and not on the pain he was causing to her. Her brother had ran. That was the important information, the rest did not matter. The rest did not matter, she kept repeating to herself. But the pain on her head did not diminish, only increased. And images of her brother dead or hurt kept playing on her mind with the man’s words. She tried to answer but she moved her mouth and nothing came out. “Still no answer? You may think you are stronger now Tatsu-chan. But you are weaker. Getting involved with that Atobe boy only makes everything worse for you. You are just giving me another tool I can use to manipulate you. I could right now, threaten him, kidnap him, torture him, I got away with those before and nothing would stop me from doing it again. Does it scare you Tatsu-chan? Seeing someone else be dragged into your hell?”

It did scared her, it scared her so much tears began sliding through her cheeks and falling over Atobe’s face. She imagined him suffering because of her, Ohno hurting him because of her. Him getting destroyed. His friends getting destroyed. And more tears fell. Atobe moved a bit beside her slightly opening his eyes but she was already in another dimension. The dimension filled with pain and images of hurt Atobe. The images of the person that mattered the most to her at that moment hurt because of her, again.

“ And you know, he will leave you when he sees exactly you are. How broken you are, miss. You are damaged goods, why would someone want damaged goods? How can you tell yourself someone would want that? You are very naïve if you think like that. Maybe I should fuck you to teach you how broken you are. Maybe that would make you even a better puppet than your brother was. Or do you want me to do this with your brother?”

When he ended that sentence with a laugh, Tatsu came back to reality. It was a simple expression that took her back. Damaged Goods. Yörn had told her that also. That they were damaged goods. But not anymore. He said it in the past. Now she could smile. She could laugh. She had someone that brought back all those emotions in her and she would not let a voice take it all away. She would not. That man would not hurt  Akihiko. He would not hurt Atobe. He had hurt her in the past but she would not allow him to do that with the people she cared about. So she answered him, with a shaky voice, she answered him.

“You won’t… I will not let you do it.” Was the first thing Atobe heard when he woke up, seeing his girlfriend over him crying. She was holding herself up with one arm and holding a phone with the other, her face was completely pale and it looked like she was in a lot of pain. That instantly took him off his sleepy estate.

“Tatsu! What is happening? Tatsu!” He called her name again and again but she seemed too focused on the phone to hear him. When she spoke again he was already shouting her name, probably waking up the rest of the bus.

“You will not touch them. You will not hurt them. I am not scared of you anymore. I will destroy you.” She said. With every word came a ragged breath. It was like it was hurting her physically to speak that, like every letter she spoke killed her a bit. Atobe pulled her closer, feeling her body not welcoming his touch. The other Hyotei members had awoken and were surrounding them on the moving bus. When the last word left her mouth more tears came pilling from her eyes and the phone left her hand. Her body felt over his, finally responding to his touch. When Kabaji picked up the phone, the call was already over and Tatsu still had a fixed gaze with tears still falling.

“Atobe, what happened?” Yuushi asking that to him was the first thing he computed on his mind after Tatsu lead into his touch.

“I think she just spoke with someone that hurt her in the past, just… Tatsu I am here, your entire team is here. You don’t need to be scared.” The girl held him tightly, her tears were stopping, but she still took long minutes to speak again. All the other Hyotei members were still around them, waiting expectantly to know what had happened, they all looked so worried with her. Atobe could only think at how much he hated seeing her in pain like that, just how much more times would her past come back to haunt them?

 

“Keigo… I need you to call Tarou.” As soon and Tatsu finished speaking the other boys swarmed her with questions.

“Tatsu-san what happened?” Tatsu-san why are you crying?” “Tatsu-san who did hurt you?” Even Hiyoshi had joined the panic around them. Atobe felt her holding his hand before answering, she was still slightly shaking. “I am better now, apologies for the worry I just need a few minutes to recover. I should not have showed you all this side of me but right now there exists things more important than this.” She tried to force a smile but failed miserably, showing even more how tired she looked. So Atobe intervened.

“Oya, guys, give her some space, she will be better, it was just a memory scaring her, go back to your seats!”

They followed his orders but he could feel they were still awaken staring at Tatsu, before he could tell the regulars to sleep again, Tatsu began to speak.

“Keigo, I need to tell you what happened, just…” She still looked so tired while speaking that.  Atobe passed his fingers through her hair trying to calm her down, the girl burrowed her face on his chest, letting him touch be felt through her body. “Neko-chan, tell me when you are ready, answering that man was already an improvement. I am proud of you for it.” She did not let him finish the sentence properly and already got up from him, to sit back on her armchair.

“No, Keigo, this is important, we need to contact Tarou. His phone was… cloned. Somehow that man contacted me using Tarou’s number. Also my brother he is…” She moved her mouth but her voice disappeared and she could not continue her sentence. Atobe touched her face and whispered.

“It’s alright, Tatsu, you can do this, you can tell me this.” Tatsu breathed hard again and started to speak. “He called me, he seemed mad. Not like sarcastic mad, but really mad. Something must have gone terribly wrong. He said my brother ran away from him and that he passed at my house. I don’t know what else could have made him mad. But he was. I am sure. His voice was…”

Before he could answer her phone started ringing again, Kabaji had left it on their armchairs. Atobe picked it up and stared at the screen to read. “Tarou Sakaki” He looked at Tatsu to see her trembling again, the scared look returning to her features. He answered the phone himself this time. That man would not scare her. He would not allow him to mess up with Tatsu’s head again. He would not allow anything to hurt her. But the voice on the other side of the line was not unknown for him. This time it was the actual Sakaki calling. So he put on the speakerphone for her to hear.

“Tatsu, is that you?” Sakaki spoke on the other side of the line. She did not answer promptly what made Atobe answer for her.

“Yes, sensei, she is here. But she just received a not very pleasant phone call right now.” There was a moment of pause on the other side of the line before Sakaki spoke again. “This will not be a very pleasant phone call either.”

When he said that Tatsu spoke again. “Tarou, that man, he cloned your phone. And called me from it.” Another large pause on the line, followed by the sound of something breaking and a muffled -Fuck-, it was the first time Atobe had heard his teacher swear.

“I knew this would happen, I should have done something before now. God. Damn Ohno. Just really. I will fix the phone problem. Cloned my phone to talk with you. Fuck. Tatsu are you alright?” Their teacher had completely lost his calm, so Ohno affected even him that much, Atobe though.

“I am… better than expected. But we have other problems. He said that my brother had escaped from his grasp, so he must be after Aki right now. I challenged him! I went against his will, Tarou! He will throw that on my brother, for sure.” Tatsu pleaded. The phone went silent again.

“Tatsu, it is not just that. He was on your house and… Atobe, you two should arrive in Tokyo in a couple of hours. Take Tatsu to your place, she cannot come back here.”

He was ready to agree with his teacher when Tatsu intervened.

“What happened? Tarou, what happened in my house? I will see it. It does not matter what it there. I will see it.” Anger appeared on her eyes, it was not fear anymore, just pure anger. The same anger that was there on the moment she had answered to the executive or that she missed a shot on Tennis. That was the real Tatsu.

“Sensei what happened there?” Atobe asked also, supporting his girlfriend on her decision of facing her problems.

“You really should not see this, Tatsu. But if you feel so compelled to do it. I will not stop you. You two come here when you arrive in Tokyo. But it is not a pretty sight. And about your brother, I will put my people to search for him. But if he managed to evade Ohno I doubt other security personnel would be able to find him.” And he turned off the call.

The trip back to Tokyo was very tense. None of the Hyotei members was able to sleep anymore. And Tatsu knew it was because of her. The fear of that man was still ingrained on her chest but she needed to see what he had done so she could go against it. They arrived before 8 am and there was a car already waiting for them outside. She said goodbye to the regulars, what had happened in the bus still weighing over all of them. She had destroyed their happy celebration trip back with the memories from her past. During the car trip to her house Atobe kept comforting her and just having his arms around her made a difference she could not express in words. It was so easy for her to just let herself be dragged into his world. Where there was no pain and no problems, only floating crown Band-Aids.

But her bubble was broken when they arrived at the house. They could not park in front because there were multiple police cars parked everywhere and some reporters trying to squeeze their way in. They left the car feeling flashed being taken on their direction by all those news companies standing outside. Atobe did his best to cover her but it was impossible with that many of them. Tatsu could feel her chest squeeze at every step they took. This reminded her too much of the day her parents died. The lights, the reporters, the pain. If Keigo was not there she would not have made it inside, she would have just ran again.

Tarou waited for them at the outside gate, his expression was not blank or scowled as normally. He seemed disturbed. Completely disturbed. When they reached the entrance the older man stopped.

“Tatsu, are you sure you want to see this? I really believe you should not.” She felt her chest tighten even more and Atobe strengthen the grip on her body.

“I want to.” She answered. She really did want to. She needed to.

So Tarou let them pass, but he did not enter in the house. The first thing she saw when stepping inside the door was the red ink on her white walls. The words –killer- and –whore- were wrote with it. Taking one more step she noticed the floor, there were hundreds of her family pictures were torn and scattered around, when she picked up one of them she saw they were copies of the same picture. Her former happy family on their garden with only her face being cut out of it. Her legs failed for a second and Atobe held her up she heard his voice asking

“Do you want to leave?” She did not answer just kept going. Her stomach was turning and she feel like she could pass out at any moment but she needed to see the damage done. She needed to be strong enough to see it. She looked at her leaving room, her guitar was torn into pieces sprawled on the floor, it hurt her a bit but the next thing was what made her fall.

The first one he saw was the black orchid one. The painting torn and destroyed hanging over her kitchen’s counter. Her mother’s painting destroyed. Atobe held before she felt to the floor. Not just that painting. Her living room had turned into a graveyard with all her mother’s paintings  torn up. She could see pieces of the horizons she painted, of those times she would paint their family, or simply imaginary fantasies. But the painting right at the center was one Tatsu remembered way too well. She and her brother when very small, laughing, near the piano in one of the family’s living room. Both their faces were torn. She got out of Atobe’s hold and rushed to the picture, taking it on her hands and falling to the floor sobbing.

It was like everything was happening again, he had destroyed her mother’s precious paintings just to break her again. Something important being lost and the blame falling on her. For a moment it seemed to be working, her tears falling over the picture. But she was not alone this time. Atobe was pulling her body up, she let the painting fall on the ground to make company to the torn photos, turning everything into a badly tasted collage. 


	17. A Resurgence (No more secrets).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revealing everything to the last involved party.

** Chapter 17: A resurgence. (No more secrets). **

“I knew it was him since the start.” Atobe heard his dad speak on a serious tone, anger was clear in his words.

 There was no way to delay this conversation after what had happened on the previous morning. It was all over the media, every single TV channel trying to dig the best controversy from the Fujiwara family story, which was now adorning every media device in Japan. Tatsu had not spoken since they left her house; she had held Atobe’s hand and all the tears she was shedding stopped. Now they were inside his house, sitting on his Dad’s work office, planning to discuss everything.

 Atobe’s voice raised asking his father why and what, but the next one to speak was Tatsu that answered him. And it was not a simple answer. She told everything. Every single detail that she had told him before, she repeated on that moment. There was no stuttering, no crying, no hesitation. She just had presented everything as facts. Even when talking about Ohno she did not stutter. Her hand searched for his and he promptly grabbed it.

 His mother’s smile dropped at each word Tatsu spoke, and by the moment his girlfriend spoke about the last call, Ms. Atobe was already hugging her. Nothing needed to be said, his mother had never been someone to show emotions but there she was, moved by the story. Atobe moved to approach her, letting go of Tatsu’s hand, but as soon as he did the younger girl turned and hugged back his mother. The two women seemed to be on their own world at that moment and he felt like he should not interrupt them. He looked back at his father on the other side of the table, also staring at the scene in front. He took some second to notice but his father hands were lightly shaking, lying over the table. So, hearing the details from Tatsu’s mouth also did move him.

They stayed hugging for long minutes and when his mother stood up again and left the room, his dad suggested they should re-gather their thoughts on this moment and after dinner they would have a full conversation about it. He left the office following his wife and left Atobe alone with Tatsu inside. She had set back on the chair and her head was tilted upwards, with the eyes closed. She seemed so calm and serene after what had happened on that morning. Atobe raised his left arm and touched her cheek, what made the girl open her eyes and turn slightly to face him.

“It does get better.” Were the words that escaped her mouth. He answered with a confused expression so she continued to speak.

“It does get better. Telling it. It was less bad than last time. Just instead of sadness and pain now I only feel anger. Anger with Ohno, anger with the entire situation but, mostly, anger with myself. I should have come clean with everything earlier, and this would not have happened. My mother’s work would not be completely destroyed now. Atobe. I want him to pay for it.” The look she had was not the broken look, or the empty one, the look she had on that moment was the determination look she proudly possessed during her tennis matches. Atobe was proud at how far she had become, being able to hold that will even now. She was getting better, he could clearly see she was getting better.

“Hn, let’s go!” He said while getting up from the chair and pulling her arm to follow him. She did get up  but arched her eyebrow's like asking him what was this all about. He just pulled her closer and whispered: "Let's get out of here." Atobe had no idea of what to do, he just wanted to get out of there and make her forget about what happened, at least for a couple of hours. They still had a long time until dinner, where they would actually have to discuss more of that, and she keeping her head on it would only make her feel worst.

They ended up walking fast through his house corridors, some servants bowing on the way, when they passed near the mansion's garden Tatsu suddenly stopped. He turned back, to be greeted with her smile.

"Keigo, let's play a match." He stood there for a second, looking at her smile, not knowing why she would want that but he followed her to the courts just after the garden, the servants brought them rackets and Tennis balls. He started serving.

It was always a pleasure to play Tennis against her, he always learned so much, even losing wasn't that bad if he could see her smirk and her hair flowing on the wind. His serve was instantly countered, he could feel she had put more strength than she used to on the start of the game. So this was a way for her to cool off some steam and put her head off everything. He did manage to return with a left shot that made her run through the entire court to reach it. With the months playing with her, his stamina improved so much he was sure he would have the highest between all the middle-scholer player, even compared to the crazy viper from Seigaku or Shishido. It still was not comparable to Tatsu's but he would get there. 

Atobe realized he had left an open space on the court but she did not score on it. he hated when she did that, not scoring when she clearly could. So he let the ball pass anyway.

"Play it seriously, Tatsu! I don't need you to not score!" He shouted, pointing his racket at her. She picked the ball and when to the serve spot.

"I know but I just..." There was a brief pause and she said the last words too low for him to hear.

"Hn, you just what?" He asked.

"I wanna play doubles with you again, since it was how this all started."

 

The sentence left her mouth fast, like she did not want to admit she said that. Atobe could not contain his smile. He left his spot and jumped over the net, stopping just in front of her.

"Hn, so let's play doubles." He said like that didn't matter at all. Tatsu answered with an annoyed expression.

"Well, smart one, we don't have any opponents."

"And why should that matter? We need to practice our doubles play before we can face any serious opponents anyway." Her eyebrow's arched again and his smirk just got even brighter.

"Of course. Since you want to play doubles with my amazing person we should join some serious tournaments." Her annoyed expression turned into a laughter. "You think we could do it, Keigo? Play doubles on tournaments and stuff?"

"For sure. With my amazing skills and your coaching we can win against anyone, Neko-chan" She laughed a bit more, the sounds of her laugh always made him want to smile and to hug her. But they would practice. Right there they would practice. 

And they did it didn't matter the lack of opponents, they tried formations, and checked what would work best between them, combined strategies and when the sun started to set both were to tired to walk properly. Atobe dragged his body to lean on the tea table that had been set for them, but he could see Tatsu still standing mid court, staring at his backyard with the large pool and the garden in front of her. The sweat made the clothes grab onto her body and she spoke without turning back to him.

"Atobe, you said you would jump on the pool when you beat Seigaku didn’t you?" He didn't understand where she was going with that line of questioning but he answered.

"Hn, yes I said I would, why?"

 Tatsu turned her head to him, she had a curious expression.

"Why?” He didn't knew what exactly to answer. He had just said that when the other regulars had asked what he would do. The truth is, he didn't want to tell them he wanted to bring Tatsu to a weekend off at his beach house after they won the Nationals, or that he would prepare a nice night for them after the Seigaku game. Atobe wanted to defeat Seigaku on the semi-finals. He wanted to do it to prove to her and, specially, to himself that she would not kill herself even if Tezuka lost. He was still scared. Scared she would leave him. Scared one day she would disappear and end her life, that would have given up on that future they could have together. She was getting better but he was still scared. But he wouldn't tell her. On that moment he knew he needed to be her support so he wouldn't say it.

 "So... why did you say it?" She asked again. He didn't realize he had taken a long time thinking.

"Hn, I want to do a lot of things after winning that game and the nationals. One of them is spending a nice time relaxing. It can be swimming on my pool. It can be in one of my private beaches." He low key expected her to get the hint he would invite her for that in the future. But she just looked back to the pool, taking a while to say anything else.

"Oh, I thought... Something else." Tatsu said while removing her hair-clip, letting her black locks fall through her back. Atobe still could not comprehend why she had asked that, so he moved from the table going to stand beside her. Before he could reach she started running in the direction of the pool.

"Tatsu!" He managed to call, seconds before she removed her shoes and jumped in.

 

He reached the border of the pool, exasperated, what was she doing now, he thought. Why jump on the pool with her clothes on? Why now? What did that mean? Before he could get worried if she could swim or not, she risen to the surface, smiling.

"What do you think you are doing, Tatsu?" She laughed back, what made him even more annoyed.

"What am I doing? I am living, Keigo!" The words still did not make sense to him, but he could not get annoyed with that bright smile for long.

"Hn, I will call the servants to bring you a towel, wait a second." Before he could turn, he heard she calling.

"No Keigo! You didn't understand! I am living! I passed the last years just being sorry with myself and cursing my own existence but now that I know. Now I can live. I wanna live, Keigo! Even with all the pain I will stop feeling sorry about what happened. I will stop apologizing for my existence because no one should have to do it! No one!" She had shouted that like it was a big discovery, like she had uncovered the biggest secret behind humanity.

 "Hn, and you needed to jump in the pool for that why?" He couldn't resist making fun of that childish action. With simple sentences the girl had managed to erase the doubts on his heart, the doubts she did not even knew existed. Just saying that, with that smile, made Atobe calmer, about everything. But he still would beat Seigaku. For sure he would. Prove he was better than Tezuka once and for all.

"i just... wanted to do a Keigo-like action to show that decision. I guess it didn't work very well. i can't be as grandiose as you not even if I try." Her voice seemed a bit disappointed, almost annoyed.

"Hahahaha! Ore-sama is the only one that can do that! Don't try to copy me."

he answered, pointing directly at her. He knew she liked the arrogant spoiled him, who wouldn't?

 "But now that you failed on your act, please get out of the pool, before you get sick." He said, picking up a towel that one of the servants brought. It was her time to smirk.

"You know, Keigo. There is three ways this can happen. You can help me out and I will, accidentally, pull you in. You can jump in yourself and keep some of your dignity. Or you will make me go out and shove you in the pool."

"Why are we discussing now if I will enter and not you getting out?" He asked, amused with her will to pull him in.

"Because you said you wanted to jump in after you beat Seigaku. So do it now as a sign you will beat them in two weeks!"

He couldn't resist laughing more. He was not very interested in jumping on the pool at that moment but swimming with Tatsu surely sounded tempting. He pondered for a second and decided that provoking her was the best answer to his dilemma.

"Hn, you can't pull me in now that you told me your intentions. I'm stronger than you. Without the surprise factor you will never be able to pull me in, anh?" She approached the border of the pool, getting close to him, standing her soaked wet arm.

"I will pull you in." He reached his right her for hers and as soon as it got close enough she started pulling him in. 

“I don’t think you have time for that shit, Tatsu.” A rash voice came from the door, leading inside the house. Sakaki stood there. His hair and his suit were not impeccable like Atobe had always seen them, and he seemed to have rushed here. “Get out of the pool Tatsu, get out and tell me what Atobe’s father told me on the phone. I will not be able to believe it before you tell me. So tell me!” He was distressed to say the least, Atobe started a sentence but nothing came to his mind. He knew those two would need to speak. He disliked his father had done that for them but they needed to speak.

 

Tatsu moved her body to leave the pool. She wished she would have told Sakaki before. He was the closest to her parents. And the last to know of what exactly happened. Tarou was the person that stood by her side, that helped her get emancipated, that helped her administrate what she had left. And he did that without asking any questions, always putting her physical and, most importantly, her mental health above everything so she owed him answers. She took a towel and passed it around her body before turning to face Sakaki. If this was any other situation and not one so serious she might have found funny how distressed her old friend was. But she couldn’t laugh about this. The clutch on her stomach increased but she started speaking.

“It is true. Why everything happened. It’s true.”

“Oya, Tatsu take a break, you already told this story once today.” Atobe approached her. His concern was blatant on his voice and on his eyes, but she took his hand and got ready for the answer her old friend would give her. But it did not come quick. She saw Sakaki letting his body fall on the chair near the pool. There was a desolation coming from his eyes that hurt Tatsu deeply, if she had been brave in the past he would not be passing through it now. Tarou’s voice came out dry and shaky.

“Explain Tatsu. Explain.” 

When their sight crossed, she almost felt her courage disappearing. Sakaki was trying to hold himself together. The last time she had seen him like that was after the break up with Shizuru. A shiver ran through her body. Atobe noticed it, got closer and let her lean on himself. His clothes started to get wet for the contact with the towel on her. But, again his proximity made her talk, his proximity, his presence, his love always made her be able to.

“It’s true. He threatened me in the hospital. He used my brother to do it. For the past years he kept in touch to guarantee I would not act against him. He has my family’s properties under his name. It all happened because I spent too much time feeling sorry for myself to act about it. I am sorry the memory of your two best friends are tainted because of it. I am really sorry.”

She did not waste time on the details. Tatsu knew he could match them by himself. He just needed the straight facts and telling him those was ten times harder than telling the entire story to Atobe’s family. Maybe it was Sakaki’s look. Maybe it was her memories of all the times her family was together with him. Of their past. She finally noticed how telling a harsh truth to a friend was way more different than to anyone else. To tell a long hidden secret to someone you knew and respected your entire life. But before she could raise her head to face him she felt Atobe’s proximity leave her body and a different pair of arms to hug her.

“If you ever get hurt by someone and hide it from me, I promise I will set fire to your LP collection.” Sakaki said. She could feel his long arms hugging her body and her head now resting on his chest. Her body was still very much wet from the pool and was tainting his not so impeccable suit. The usual lack of feelings the older man used being contrasted to this sudden explicit emotion made her heart hurt. She would never tell anyone but on that afternoon she saw Sakaki cry for the second time. This were not tears from grieve, she knew they weren’t. Every single tear he shed on that moment were for her. It was for all her past years and that made her heart hurt even more.  
  


“Oya Tatsu, are you alright in there?” Atobe asked, knocking on his bathroom’s door. She had been inside since they left dinner. It was not a very pleasant conversation to say the least. Sakaki had gone home sometime after the scene near the pool. He would never imagine that seen Tatsu hug someone else would not make him feel jealous. But the hug the girl and his teacher had shared was almost ethereal on his eyes. It had been a symbol for both of them, a symbol that the secrets were done, that there was not a wall between their friendships anymore. That, he hoped, they could solve it and grow out of the grief and the blame.

The dinner hadn’t been any easier. His dad’s contained anger was latent. He wanted to completely decimate Ohno for everything he had done. But now it was all in the media again and handling that required care. Tatsu did not give much insight at all during it, she just requested nothing would be done that could hurt her brother. For that to be possible they needed to track the paper trail, even if they were able to do it, if Ohno had not erased it completely it still would not be enough to prove the psychological abuse. The only way to prove that was the way Atobe was most scared his father would suggest. Was to have a factual proof on the moment he does it. So to let that man get in contact with Tatsu again, and Atobe hated the idea of that.

It had not been suggested but after dinner all of them knew that would be the best way to catch the man that had cause all that hurt. Nobody needed to speak it, but they knew. Atobe would be against it. He knew how important it was but just imagining Tatsu getting hurt again by that man pissed him off. He would protect her from everything. He would destroy that man and protect her. He promised himself he would. And Atobe Keigo never betrayed his words.

The door to the bathroom opened and Tatsu finally appeared. Her hair was wet and there was a pleasant smell coming from her, the same smell that came from his bathroom but for him it just felt better on her. She was wearing pink silk pajamas in which she looked completely uncomfortable, but his mother had insisted she wore them. And when he saw her all the thoughts he had just vanished. He could not express how cute she looked standing there a bit embarrassed. He murmured under his breath:

“So cute…” A frown reached her face and, he could be imagining, but a light pink blush reached her cheeks.

“Hn, why you at the door?” She asked, turning her head a bit to the side.

“I was worried about you, Neko-chan.”

 

His arms reached for her, she buried her face on his neck while a light composition by Bach played on his room.

“It was a long day today, Keigo.” She murmured. He didn’t answer; just let his hand go to her chin, tilting it up so their mouths could meet. He kissed her softly following the beautiful song playing on the room. They matched so well, it was like her lips where made only for him to kiss. His body started to move lightly pulling herself with him like they were dancing a slow song in a ballroom but it was just their silhouettes on the pale lights that contrasted with the fancy decoration on his room. When the song ended he fell back on the bed, pulling her together with him. 

“I don’t want to use you as bait to make that man slip.” Keigo said, his hand slowly stroking her head while her body was on top of his.

“You know this is the best choice, Keigo.” She raised her head, making her dark eyes face his blue ones and determination was present on that look. He knew he would not be able to convince her of the opposite.

“I don’t want that man to hurt you anymore. I don’t want anything to hurt you.” The serenity on his voice still could pass the desperation he felt about everything. Atobe hoped she could feel just how much he needed her, how much he was willing to do to not let her get hurt.

“I know. But I got to finish this. I got to solve my past problems so I can move on. So everybody that was affected by this mess can move on. You healed me. Your presence in my life managed to put together every single piece that had been broken. I want to solve this so there will be no more shadows clouding our relationship so we can finally be happy.” 

Talking like that she had convinced him. Just the seriousness in her eyes and how she could so easily put her feelings out there always won against him. He couldn’t compete with Tatsu in the end. She was just too good at that. So his answer was to kiss her. To pull her mouth to fall on his once more so they could share that beautiful feeling again. So that his hands could go to her back and feel how perfectly the silk felt over her skin, and her hands holding onto his black robe. And he just realized how stupid he had been, waiting for perfect moments and for a dream-like situation. He should have just followed his feelings since the start. They were the ones that mattered. His feelings and her feelings, the past, the hurt, his planning did not matter at that moment. Just them. Together.

She broke the kiss and stared again on his eyes.

“I love you.” He said before she could open her mouth to say the same. And continued. “I love you so much that my heart breaks every single time I see you sad. That I get angry every single time someone insults you. That every action you do, every word you say affect me completely. I know you love me back. I can see right now in your eyes how much you do.” He could clearly see how surprised Tatsu was. It had been the first time he was so clear about his feelings. Normally that clarity was something from her character. Atobe knew what his heart was telling him to do at that moment, but he would not follow an instinct or a desire. Tatsu needed to understand he had made it clear so now she needed to approved of it.

 They passed long seconds staring at each other before she finally whispered. “Since you love me, then love me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, here is Iza, the author. At the time I am publishing this first chapter I already have 2 more ready. I can't promise all the chapters will be this long.  
> This is a story that had been in my head for a while but I finally decided to publish it due to some amazing friends on tumblr. Thanks a lot @ayameandfriends for giving me the courage to actually write and publish this and to @holycowbrowniekitty for reading this and helping a lot with information.
> 
> I plan to publish around one chapter per week but maybe if I get some nice reviews I can double that. :D  
> Thanks for reading!


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